Pokemon: Myths & Legends
by Sonic the Saiyan
Summary: The night of the PWT is turned into a disaster when Legendary Pokemon and villainous teams attack. Leaving the place in ruins, Ash, his friends, and the greatest heroes of his generation undergo an epic quest to save the world from the tyranny of the combined might of all the regional organizations, using the power of the Mythical and Legendary Pokemon! HIATUS!
1. Memories of Kalos

**Okay, here is my second story on Fanfiction. Unlike Joined Worlds (which is still my main project, I just can't start it on a tablet like i can this, so don't worry) this will be a Pokemon story. This, like Joined Worlds, is an idea I had long before i wrote Fanfiction, so if you like my style of writing, as well as Pokemon, then you are in for a great time!**

"Alright, Pikachu, this is it."

Ash Ketchum stood on dirt ground, waiting in a corridor just in front of a metal door. With Pikachu on his shoulder, he grinned in anticipation.

"Oh man, are you as excited as I am?" he asked his long time partner.

"Pika pi!" the electric-type mouse squealed.

Ash glanced at the ceiling as he reconnected his recent journey. He had just come back from his trek through the Kalos region, where he came closer than ever to achieving his dream.

"I still can't believe we made runner-up in the Kalos League. That last trainer really fought hard out there." Ash recollected. In the final round, he and his opponent had been pulling out every last trick trying to best each other.

* * *

On the battlefield of the Kalos Conference, two of their trainers' last Pokemon stood on the field. Ash had his Pikachu out for the final round, and he was facing off against the powerful Ghost/Steel-Type Aegislash. That Pokemon seemed to best Pikachu as every turn, negating even Pikachu's strongest Volt Tackle with its Kings Shield attack, then following up with the powerful Sacred Sword, sending his partner reeling.

Ash gritted his teeth as he thought of a way out. They were both on their last Pokemon, and if he found a way to win, he would have finally become the winner of a league, which is the biggest step one can take to becoming a Pokemon Master.

"You're running out of strength over there!" his opponent called out. "You should know that every time your Pikachu hits my Kings Shield, it's physical attack power goes down quite a lot."

This frustrated Ash even further. Two of Pikachu's best moves, Volt Tackle and Iron Tail, will have been reduced down far enough that even if he could still score a direct hit with one, it wouldn't do much damage. His only chance was to try something unorthodox that his opponent wouldn't see coming. He looked at Pikachu, and as he saw that lightning bolt shaped tail, he had an idea.

"Hey Pikachu, you trust me?" he called to his long time partner on the battlefield. The battered mouse turned around and gave Ash a thumbs up and confident "Pika" that simultaneously affirmed with confidence, while still pulling off the expression of "well duh!"

"Great" Ash said. "Ok Pikachu, I want you to use Iron Tail on the center of the field, then unleash Thunderbolt from your tail!"

"Pika" Pikachu responded. He jumped high in the air and his tail glowed until it resembled steel. Pikachu then flipped several times, bringing his tail down onto the field with momentum, creating a small crater in the earth. "Pika, CHUUUUUU" the rodent yelled as he discharged a huge amount of electricity from his tail into the ground. The display was spectacular, the bolts of electricity flying up out of the crater, spreading tendrils all over the field, breaking up the field further. A few bolts hit the Aegislash, but it didn't do much more than annoy it.

Aegislash's trainer stood in confusion at Ash's tactics. The move, while able to strike his Aegislash, was fairly weak. However, he decided to not let his opponent perform a follow up move and decided to end things rights there.

"Alright Aegislash, charge up Shadow Ball to stop that Pikachu in its tracks!" he commanded.

"Aegis..." it responded. It raised slightly higher into the air and began gathering dark matter into a point in front of its eye.

When Ash saw this, he knew it was time. "Alright Pikachu, Full Power!" he shouted.

"PIKA!" Pikachu shouted. Pikachu unleashed such a massive spurt of electricity, he almost transitioned from using Thunderbolt to Thunder. The electricity all over the field intensified, then the field blew, releasing a cloud of smoke into the air.

"Aeg?" Aegislash wondered in confusion as the smoke came up, obscuring its vision. It's Shadow Ball was almost complete, but it didn't have a target to fire it at.

Ash and Pikachu didn't have a much better view on their end, but at least they had a target. An eerie purple glow up in the air.

"Okay Pikachu, I want you to use Thunder Wave on that Aegislash" Ash spoke low so his opponent didn't hear his plan.

"Pika" Pikachu responded. He proceeded to unleash a thin, weak blue jolt of electricity in the direction of the Aegislash. A groan told them that it had hit its mark.

Aegislash's Trainer was in confusion. Something had happened out there to his Aegislash, he could tell from the cry it gave. He was just waiting for the dust to settle from the explosion so he could see.

When the dust cleared, he gasped. His Aegislash was slowly falling down, near unloving, with electricity coursing across its body. He realized that the Pikachu must have paralyzed his Aegislash in the confusion, and he now grit his teeth as Ash had done a short bit ago.

Ash smirked as he thought of how close he was to winning, as this next move should at least leave Aegislash in a critical state.

"Alright Pikachu, let's go. Use Agility to get close then launch a point blank Electro Ball!"

Aegislash's Trainer gasped when he heard this order. Electro Ball, as he knew, was a unique Electric-Type move that did more damage the faster you were than your opponent. When you combine Aegislash being paralyzed, and Agility being one of the fastest moves known, he knew that he was in for trouble.

"Aegislash, use Kings Shield, fast!" he commanded his pokemon.

Aegislash looked the oncoming Mouse Pokemon. It began the raise its shield, but stopped as electricity coursed through its body once more.

"No!" the trainer yelled, but it was too late. Pikachu appeared in front of Aegislash, then turned around and unleashed a large sphere of electricity at it. The second it made contact, Aegislash flew through the air in pain, landing on the ground and driving a crater into the ruined arena.

"Awesome work Pikachu, that was perfect" Ash praised his long time buddy. He looked across the field at the Aegislash, which was standing back up.

"Okay Pikachu, one good Thunderbolt should end this. Let's go!" he said.

Pikachu nodded, then jumped into the air, generating electricity.

"We won't go down like this. Aegislash, Shadow Ball, now!" his trainer shouted.

"Aegislash" it responded. It began gathering up dark matter in front of it again.

"Pikaaaa..." Pikachu said, about to launch extreme voltage.

"Aegiiii..." Aegislash said, it's Shadow Ball fully charged.

"CHUUUUUUU!" Pikachu screamed, unleashing a massive Thunderbolt.

"SLASH!" Aegislash grunted as it launched off its deadly Shadow Ball attack.

In the center of the field, both attacks collided with a huge explosion. Neither move gave an inch as each struggled to overpower the other.

However, Pikachu was beginning to feel the effects the fatigue of long battle had worn onto him. While Aegislash had launched an attack, Pikachu had to keep his up. He began to feel his power slipping, and slowly, the Shadow Ball began to override the Thunderbolt.

Ash began to notice this, as well as how taxed his Pikachu was. "Pikachu, get out of there!" he yelled!

Pikachu glanced at his trainer when he heard this. Pikachu attempted to break the link with the Thunderbolt, but he wasn't able to jump out of the way quick enough.

"PIKACHU!" Ash yelled when he saw the Shadow Ball charge his friend.

Pikachu stared at the oncoming Shadow Ball, still attempting to edge out of the way as it got closer, but it was too late.

The Shadow Ball struck Pikachu full force and sent the yellow mouse flying into the air, squealing in pain.

Ash sprinted ahead of Pikachu, heedless of the match anymore. He ran off the field and jumped to catch his partner before he hit the ground. He rolled, cradling the first pokemon he had in his arms, and he knew the words were going to be spoken behind him before he heard them.

"Pikachu is unable to battle, Aegislash wins. The victory goes to Simon of Couramine Town!"

It was like a bomb had gone off in the stadium. The crowd exploded cheering as a new Victor of the Kalos League was announced. Ash just sat cradling Pikachu in his arms until he heard footsteps behind him.

"That was an amazing battle, Ash."

He turned around to see Simon holding out his hand to Ash. Ash grinned, got up, and clasped it.

"Yeah, I agree."

The crowd went wild over this. Both Simon and Ash flinched slightly at the volume, and jokingly wondered if they were going to need hearing aids after this.

Of course, not everyone was happy with the Victor. Ash's partners Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie were all sad to see him lose, and of course, Team Rocket, who had been there making money off the league crowd like every time, had been rooting for the 'twerp.'

* * *

Ash had begun traveling home by ship a week after the end of the Kalos League. He was by himself this time, everyone staying back in Kalos. However, on his way back, he heard about an event going on in Unova that got his trainer blood boiling. When he docked in Unova, he called around, but sadly, none of his friends were there. Iris and Cilan were still in Johto, Misty had leader duties, Brock had a huge doctor test, May was competing in the Johto Grand Festival right now, and Dawn as well in Hoenn.

So Ash went alone, and it felt weird not being part of a group anymore. However, the trip wasn't that long, so he didn't have to disable th it much.

Now he was awaiting his turn to go out and battle. He was told the gate would open when he was to come out, because they had preparation works to do, but it seemed to be taking forever.

However, just as he thought that, a monitor above the gate he was waiting behind flashed to life. It showed the picture of a desk with a man behind it. The man had been the announcer for many competitions he had gone to while in Unova.

The the loudspeakers cracked to life as the man began talking.

"Welccome, one and all, to the quarterfinals of the biggest known competition in the world. Welcome, yes, to the Pokemon World Tournament!"

 **And that is a wrap on Chapter one. I have been working on this for a long time, so I hope you enjoyed it. This chapter server to add some backstory, as to show where we are getting started in this story. So please read, and please review it, as reviews are everything to an early Fanfiction write like me :). And most of all, enjoy!**


	2. Off with a bang!

**Here is Chapter 2 of Pokemon: Myths & Legends. I know Chapter 1 wasn't reviewed that much, but that is okay, because most of it is just a flashback. Now, raise your hands in the air like you just don't care if you are ready for Ash's battle in the Pokemon World Tournament!**

"Yes, many rounds have lead up to this moment, as we approach the end of this year's Pokemon World Tournament" the announcer said, as the name of the contest got a cheer from the crowd.

Ash couldn't care less about the commentary, because he knew the longer it went on, the longer he would be stuck in his little hall waiting for his turn to compete in his quarterfinal match.

"As you know, it is a tradition that each year, we keep the hidden prize of the tournament a secret until the final round. But that doesn't mean that we can't give away tidbits" the announcer said with a smile. "This year, the contents of these three boxes here will go to the finalist who wins the entire shebang" he continued, gesturing to three small boxes lying on the stand.

Ash frowned when he saw this. Each box was rather small, maybe big enough to hold a pair of Apple's. However, he knew that size didn't necessarily determine the value of the contents. Maybe they were Pokemon League passes, or rare Pokemon. As he began thinking about the possibilities of the contents, he got excited to find out what was inside. He was so curious that he almost missed it when his gate began to open.

"And in this corner, fresh from a close loss in the Kalos League, a frequent competitor in Pokemon League Challenges throughout the 6 main region's, I present, ASH KETCHUM!"

* * *

 _In Pallet Town_

* * *

"Hurry up, Samuel, Tracey, Misty, Brock! Ash's match is about to begin!"

Delia Ketchum stood in her living room waiting for all the others to come join her. When she heard that her little Ash was participating in a world-class tournament, and had made it to the quarterfinals, she decided to throw a party at her place for all of his Kanto friends to come watch.

"Coming Delia!" the voice of Professor Oak came from the kitchen. He and the rest of the guests came running into the living room cradling popcorn and drinks in their arms.

Misty stood up and wiped her forehead. "We haven't missed the beginning?" she asked.

Ash's mother shook her head. "Nope, they were just letting him come out. Hurry and sit , though, or we will miss it!"

Misty, Brock, Tracey, Oak, and Delia all got themselves situated just as Ash came running out.

* * *

 _At Blackthorn City_

* * *

"Come on, come on, what channel is it on?"

A young brunette girl sat on the couch of the local Pokemon Center, channel surfing furiously.

"Geez May, calm down. You press the buttons much faster and they're going to spontaneously combust. How will you find his match then?" a young green-haired coordinator asked.

May ignored that. "You don't understand, his match is supposed to start any moment now, and I don't want to miss a second of it!"

Drew rolled his eyes at this. "You sure that this is just about seeing his battle? You act as if you don't see it, you'll die."

"It's not that, it's just that he called to congratulate me on making Top 4 in the Grand Festival, so the least in could do to repay him for keeping up with my Festival, is to at least watch his tournament" May explained, her cheeks slightly pink.

"Hey, it doesn't seem like that's all that's going on he-" Drew tried to say teasingly, before he was stopped by having to dodge a remote that had been flung at his face.

May breathed easy. "Found it..."

* * *

 _In Azalea Town_

* * *

"You sure you found the right one, Cilan?"

"Yes Iris, I'm sure. This is the tournament Ash told us he would be compared eating n. I looked up the time slots, and his battle should be getting under way any second here" the Pokemon Connoisseur replied.

Iris and Cilan had also met up in Johto, in little Azalea Town, just about the time Ash entered the PWT.

"Alright, let's see if that little kid has grown up enough to win this tournament!" Iris cheered.

Cilan chuckled. "I thought you stopped calling him that after we got to Kanto, Iris."

Iris closed her eyes and shrugged. "It's not my fault he acted like a kid when he traveled with us" she replied nonchalantly.

"Well," Cilan said, pulling some box lunches out of a bag, "no sense cheering on an empty stomach. Let's eat while we watch him fight."

"Sounds great" was Iris's response as the tucked into their meal.

* * *

 _In Lilycove City_

* * *

"MAKE WAY!"

A young bluenette coordinator came charging through the lobby of the local Pokemon Center. Her Piplup was holding onto her shoulder for dear life as she ran at speeds that would make a Jolteon jealous.

She ran over to the T.V. and snatched the remote. She turned around and faced the T.V. and hit the power button.

But nothing happened.

"AH, oh no, the remote's batteries are dead!" Dawn shouted. She ran over to the Nurse Joy of the Center.

"Miss, please help. You've got to have some spare batteries for this thing" she said, waving the remote around.

"Yes, calm down please, I have some right here" Nurse Joy said.

"Thanks, bye!" Dawn said, snatching the batteries and running back over. She plugged the new batteries in and pointed it at the T.V. again, this time turning it on. She switched to the channel that was streaming the Pokemon World Tournament.

Dawn sighed and sat down. She turned to her partner Piplup and smiled. "See Piplup, no need to worry."

Piplup, who had not recovered from the cross town sprint and who still had motion sickness, glared at Dawn and spat Bubblebeam in her face.

Dawn stood up and shrieked when her Piplup did this. "Piplup, what was that for?" she demanded.

"Lup, Pip Piplup Pip!" Piplup squealed back at her trainer.

"Because Piplup, I-" Dawn began to say, but was distracted with a picture of the stadium coming on screen. She gasped and sat back down. "Sorry, Piplup, let's finish this later" she said to the starter Pokemon.

"Pip..." the Pokemon sighed, then sat with her trainer to watch the match.

* * *

 _At the Pokemon World Tournament Stadium_

* * *

Ash sprinted out onto the field with his trusty buddy Pikachu on his shoulder and stopped at the edge of the marked battle zone. He could here cheering all around him as the crown screamed at the top of their lungs.

"Here is our first competitor. Now, in the other corner, we have a Hoenn native trainer who has not only come first in the Hoenn League Competition, but has been suspected of being the mysterious trainer who rode in on the Legendary Pokemon Rayquaza to stop to Sootapolis incident between Kyogre and Groudon. I give you, BRENDAN BIRCH!"

The crowd screamed again as a trainer in an orange vest and wearing a green and white hat sprinted o the field. He stopped too at the edge of the field and looked around at the crowd.

A referee walked out onto the field. "This will be a 3-on-3 match between Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town and Brendan Birch of Littleroot Town with no substitutions. A trainer will win when all three of his opponent's Pokemon are unable to battle" he announced. He walked off the field and raised two flags. "Battle, BEGIN!" he shouted, swinging each flag down.

"Alright, let's do this, go, Blaziken!" Brendan yelled, tossing a Pokeball into the air, which unleashed the fire-fighting Fire-Fighting Type Pokemon onto the field. "Blazi!" it yelled ferociously.

"Wow, a Blaziken. Haven't seen one of those in a while" Ash thought. He thought for a short moment, then decided which Pokemon he would use.

"Pignite, I choose you!" Ash shouted, summoning his trusty fire pig Pokemon to the field.

"So, a battle of Fire-Types, huh? Well, let's go" Brendan called to Ash.

"Sure thing" Ash said. "Pignite, open with Rock Smash!"

"Pig!" Pignite shouted. He slept at Blaziken with a fist clenched and glowing orange.

"Blaziken, counter with Double Kick" Brendan called out to his Pokemon.

Blaziken lept forward feet first. It kicked Pignite's arm out of the way, then spun and kicked it up into the air.

"Alright Blaziken, follow it up with your Sky Uppercut!"

Blaziken ran them wards where Pignite was falling, with its fist close to the ground. As it neared the falling Pokemon, it flew upwards with a fist cloaked in blue energy.

"Alright Pignite, counter with a Brick Break" Ash yelled.

Pignite twisted around in midair with a fist of white energy to meet the Blaziken's Sky Uppercut. There was a short clash, and then Blaziken jumped backwards, floating down through the air.

A drop of rain fell in the center of the arena.

No one noticed this but Brendan, who looked up to notice clouds that had filled the sky on what had been a cloudless evening not ten minutes ago.

An inkling of a worry began to grow in his mind, but he snapped back to the battle when he heard his Blaziken gasp in pain.

He looked to the field and saw his Pokemon surrounded by high pillars of fire, and realized that Ash's Pignite must have used Fire Pledge on his Blaziken. Frustrated, he cried out "Blaziken, use your Hi-Jump Kick!"

"Blaze!" it shouted before propelling itself into the air, then shooting down towards Pignite with its leg out forward.

Ash saw this coming, and commanded his Pignite to use Flamethrower to boost out of there. Pignite rocketed out of the way, and Blaziken crashed to the ground, taking severe damage.

Rain began to fall to the field more heavily.

Brendan was now torn between the battle, and a suspicion that began to grow in his mind as the storm intensified rapidly.

Not being the only one to notice the rain anymore, Ash too looked up into the sky as it stormed. He scratched his head and said "wasn't it clear just a bit ago?"

"So it wasn't just in my head!" Brendan thought. He called over to his opponent "so, you notice it too."

Ash nodded. "Yeah, this is weird. I remember being hyped because tonight was supposed to be perfect battling conditions. But now it's raining, weird. I wonder if someone outside the stadium is training to use Rain Dance."

Then it clicked in Brendan's mind. Rain Dance, heavy storm, but he was interrupted again as in an instant, the clouds and rain disappeared and the arena grew warm.

Across the field, Ash smiled. "This is better. Let's get back to that match, eh Brendan?"

However, battling Ash was now the the furthest thing from Brendan's mind. A panic gripped him as he shouted to the referee, "call off the match!"

Both Ash and the referee looked at him cunningly, but he wasn't joking. He held out a Pokeball and returned Blaziken.

He then yelled to Ash. "Quick, return Pignite and call out your most powerful Pokemon!"

Ash frowned. "Brendan, what's going-" he began to say, but was cut short when the ground began to shake. Then, a loud roar boomed throughout the entire stadium.

 _"ROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAR!_

Ash heard the roar and began to feel the same fear as Brendan had, as he had begun to connect the dots, and he too had heard that roar before.

Several people screamed while Ash shouted "Pignite, return." The Pokemon was whisked back to its Pokeball, and Ash had been reaching for another when the Earthquake intensified.

Then, the center of the field began to split open. Steam flew out of the hole as of it led to the center of the earth. Then a red-spiked crown pushed out of the hole.

Everyone within sight began to run as a massive Groudon appeared in the center of the battlefield, abruptly dwarfing Ash, Brendan, and Blaziken. People begun to sprint for the exit before another loud noise boomed across the field, like something between a hiss and a roar.

People retreated as ice began to fill in and black every possible exit to the stadium. Soon the hissing roar was heard again as a White Kyurem fell out of the sky, aligning with Groudon.

Then a whirring mechanical noise was heard above and the field was blanketed in shadows. Ash looked up to see a giant ice coated flying pirate ship in the sky descend near the stadium.

"What the heck is that?" Ash yelled, pointing at the flying ship. Behind him, he heard a body drop to the ground onto the field. He turned around and saw a boy around his age, with spiky brown hair and blue and white Unova attire.

The boy stared up at the ship, then looked to Ash and answered him. "That, my friend, is the Plasma Frigate."

"Wait, Plasma Frigate, as in Team Plasma?" Ash asked.

The boy looked surprised. " You know them?" he asked. He walked over and offered his hand to shake. "My name is White" he said.

Ash shook White's hand. Then he glared back at the ship. "But why would they control Groudon? Groudon is a Hoenn based Legendary Pokemon."

"Team Plasma doesn't. We do!" a voice boomed from the frigate.

A man clad in green robes came down on a floating platform to meet the three trainers. He looked at each of them with a cold glare.

Ash glared right back. He shouted "who are you, and what do you want?"

The man clad in green gave off a booming laugh, then looked down at the group. "It's nice to see one with such fire in his eyes. I shall be happy to extinguish it."

"Now, to answer your questions. You may call me Omega, and I am the leader of Team Delta, ones who where made from the ruins of Team Aqua and Team Magma. And as for why I am here," he paused. He then pointed at Brendan and said "I am here for that kid's Rayquaza."

 **Cliffhanger, sorry if you hate me for it. So Ash's match is cut short by an attack by villainous teams and Legendary Pokemon, and Brendan is at least thought to own Rayquaza. But does he? Also, I plan to treat this story a bit like Joined Worlds, where I will frequently publish chapters in the beginning to give the story substance, but slow down later on. But onto other matters. Some of you may have noticed a small hint towards Advanceshipping in this chapter. I don't know how many of my other readers support advanceshipping, or even enjoy -shipping stories at all, but don't worry, the story doesn't have to go that way. I was planning on incorporating it as more of a background feature, so if it does happen, it won't be the main focus, just a spice up. But I will set up a poll on my account to see who wants it and who doesn't. If no one votes, or at least I don't have substantial voters, then advanceshipping it is. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and will see you next time.**


	3. A Hero's Front

**I started on this one soon after chapter 2 was good and done. Like I said, your going to get a few quick chapters out of this story before the pace slows, just like Joined Worlds was in the beginning. Onwards to the chapter!**

* * *

 _Pallet Town_

* * *

"Mrs. Ketchum, please wake up!"

The entire house was in shock after what they had just witnessed on the live feed from the stadium. Misty was ghostly white, Professor Oak was clutching his chest like he was about to have a heart attack, Brock was all but paralyzed in shock, and Delia had collapsed.

"A-a-a-ash, we, we got to help him..." Brock stuttered out.

"Huff, huff, not, not just him. Everyone in that stadium is in danger" Oak wheezed out. "Legendary Pokemon are not to be trifled with, even by the most powerful of trainers."

"Ashy..." Delia muttered on the floor.

Misty stood above her in shock. "Delia, please get up."

Professor Oak was the first to snap out of it. He turned to Ash's old friends and beckoned them to follow him.

"But what about Ash's mom?" Brock asked the elderly professor.

"I'll take care of her, but you were right. You need to go help Ash" Oak explained.

"But how will we get there in time? He's all the way in Unova, and that's thousands of miles away from Kanto" Misty asked.

Oak answered by pulling out a Pokeball. "Go, Dragonite!" he shouted. In a flash, the orange dragon Pokemon stood in front of them.

"Dragonite, take Brock and Misty to Saffron City, and to Sabrina's Gym."

"Um, Sabrina, but isn't she a bit, you know, creepy?" Misty shivered. "She turned us into dolls the first time we went there."

"That may be, but she is the only surefire person I know of that has an Alakazam that can use Teleport" Oak explained his reasoning. "When you get there, tell her you need quick passage to Unova, and that every second counts, that is, if she doesn't already know."

"Why would she already know?" Brock asked.

Oak chuckled. "Never underestimate a Psychic."

* * *

 _Blackthorn City_

* * *

"May, wait up" Drew said.

"No, I need to go help Ash!" May shouted. "Don't you get that he's being attacked by Legendary Pokemon?"

"I understand that, May, but how do you plan on getting to him?"

May stopped dead still. She hadn't thought about that. She had no way to get to the far away Unova region, and no flying Pokemon to carry her.

"Look, I know that it isn't ideal, but I know about a small airport that was set up in Cherrygrove Town" Drew explained his fix. "Flygon could probably fly you there, and the planes at the airstrip are rather fast. They would probably take about 30 minutes to get you there."

"THIRTY MINUTES?" she exclaimed.

"I know that it's not great, but if I've learned one thing, it's to never underestimate Ketchum. Not only is he there, but he's in a stadium of world class trainers. I'm sure they can last 45 minutes for you to get there" Drew boosted her confidence.

There was a short pause in which there was silence. She turned to face Drew and smiled. "Thank you Drew. You're a great friend, and the best rival."

Drew nodded, slightly embarrassed by her emotional display. He turned around and took out a Pokeball. "Flygon, come on out!"

With a flash of bright light, the dragonfly dragon Pokemon stood majestically in front of them. "Flyyyyyyyy" Flygon stretched its wings.

"Flygon, take May to Cherrygrove. Use Agility, or Quick Attack, or Aerial Ace, or whatever you have to to get there faster, okay?" Drew requested of having s Pokemon.

"Flygon, Fly!" Flygon responded. It lowered itself close to the ground so May could climb on.

May mounted Flygon and braced for takeoff. Drew nodded to the Pokemon and it took off. Drew watched his Flygon and May quickly disappear into the night sky.

* * *

 _Azalea Town_

* * *

A very worried pair of people sprinted out of the Pokemon Center of Azalea Town.

"Come on, which way to Unova? We need to get there ASAP!" Iris demanded.

"I agree. An attack by two Legendary Pokemon is a recipe for disaster, no matter how tough of a trainer you are" Cilan conceded.

Iris pulled a Pokeball out of her pocket and tossed it into the air. "Dragonite, come on out!"

In a flash, Iris' grumpy Dragonite stood before the duo. It glared at the to of them and huffed.

Iris ran over and jumped on Dragonite's back, then held her hand out to pull Cilan on.

Cilan came over, but as soon as he was up, he asked the question "where do you plan to go? Even your Dragonite isn't strong enough to fly all the way to Unova."

Iris sighed. "Yeah, good point. What do you suggest Cilan?"

"Well, I discovered an airstrip in Cherrygrove a while back. I found it when I was looking for passage to Raknor, as I had heard of a delectable donut shop that the run there" Cilan recounted.

"That's perfect!" Iris exclaimed. "Okay Dragonite, Fly up, and use Extremespeed to get us to Cherrygrove Town, fast!"

"Wait, Extremespeed? Wait, Iris..." Cilan tried to protest, but stopped as he had to hold on for dear life.

* * *

 _Sky above Hoenn_

* * *

"You're doing great, Togekiss, just a little further to Slateport" Dawn consolated her Togekiss.

"Togee" Togekiss said with a smile.

"We need to help Ash. Even though we'll be fighting Legendary Pokemon," Dawn paused, shivering of the prospect of fighting titans like them. The last time she had encountered a Legendary Pokemon, it had been the Creation Trio and Arceus, and it had not gone over too well. She knew her Pokemon had been no match before, but she was stronger now, and these Legendaries were not in the same class as Arceus.

"Ah, there, I can see Slateport. Alright, let's see what their fastest ship is!"

* * *

 _PWT_

* * *

"Wait, Rayquaza? Brendan, do you really-" Ash questioned the Hoenn trainer, before he was cut off.

"Yeah, those rumors, about me and him incident with the Hoenn Legendaries, they aren't just rumors" Brendan admitted. He shot a look up at Omega. "How did you know about Rayquaza?" he shouted.

Omega chuckled. "You'd be surprised how much data you can acquire when you are a part of a worldwide organization."

"What do you mean, 'worldwide?'" Brennan asked. "Team Delta is a new organization, and you said you guys are Hoenn based."

"Its true, we do mainly operate out of Hoenn. However, we have banded together with Team Rocket, Team Galactic, Team Plasma, and a little-known Team out of Orre known as Team Cipher."

That's when Ash heard another few footfalls from the stands. There were now a small group of trainers joining them on the battlefield. A young boy in a blue Sinnoh jacket and a red cap, a slightly older teen in red, black, and white Kanto attire, a boy in a black jacket and an Ultra Ball cap, and one last one in a yellow jacket and with spiky rust-colored hair.

"What is this, a party? All of you can leave, except Brennan. This doesn't concern all of you" Omega spat.

"If you guys are with Team Rocket/Galactic/Cipher it does" the new trainers yelled simultaneously.

Omega was about to yell something to the group again when new voices were heard. "They're right, I'm afraid. We have a history with them" it said.

On new floating platforms, down came two men with blue hair, one in a Team Rocket Elite uniform, the other in black robes. A third person also came down, a woman with red hair, who Ash immediately identified as Mars of Team Galactic.

The one in the Rocket uniform scanned the group, lingering on two in particular. He smirked and the said "well, if it isn't Red and Gold. I was wondering if I would ever see you brats again."

Red clenched his fists while Gold stared right back and countered, "it's Archer, right. Sorry if I'm wrong, you guys were all so weak, you kinda blend together."

Archer looked furious for a moment, then smirked. He then pulled a purple Pokeball from his pocket and stared at the two of them. "Tell me, does this belong in the hands of a weakling?"

Archer tossed his Master Ball into the air, releasing a familiar, cold, purple humanoid Pokemon.

Ash, Red, and Gold all gasped as they recognised the Pokemon. "Mewtwo" the group said simultaneously.

The rest of the executives smirked an each pulled out a Master Ball of their own. In a flash, the field grew very small as a Dialga, Palkia, and darkened colored Lucia with red eyes appeared on the field.

"What, you have more!" Red spoke for the first time. He started looking around with unease at the group of Legendary Pokemon.

Archer laughed. "Yes, and that is not all. As I'm sure at least Brennan has figured out, we have Kyogre waiting in the harbor, and Ghetsis has another Kyurem awaiting aboard the Plasma Frigate."

"Another Kyurem?" White cried outout. The numbers of Legendary Pokemon they controlled had become astounding.

"Hehehe, hahaha, HAHAHA" the Sinnoh boy began to laugh.

"What's amusing you so much, Diamond?" Mars asked irritability.

"Nothing, just that maybe we can have an even fight now" he responded with a smirk.

"What do you mean, 'evenly?' We have you outclassed" Mars said.

"You forget just who you have in this stadium. Between all of us, we have taken you all down at least once, and you forget just what we have accomplished, and what Pokemon we have befriended."

Diamond turned to the rest of the group as smiles began to creep onto their faces. Ash gained a smile too as he realised that each trainer around him was as battle crazy as he was.

Each trainer took a Pokeball out of his bag. Brennan then looked straight at Omega, and asked him "are you sure you still want Rayquaza? This is your last chance!"

"Foolish child, you still have no idea what you are up against, do you?" Omega asked Brennan.

His only response was quite a smirk as he ach trainer tossed a Pokeball into the air.

"Mewtwo!"

"Ho-oh!"

"Rayquaza!"

"Giratina!"

"Zekrom!"

"Lugia!"

Ash looked around in awe as each trainer surrounding him called forth their own Legendary Pokemon. He then felt slightly embarrassed as he realized he had none of his own.

Brennan seemed to pick up on this, as he turned to Ash and said "don't worry about what you can do, just help us out. I've heard of your exploits, and you are no pushover."

Ash smiled as he heard this. "Yeah, I can do this. Me and my Pokemon have fought almost every Legendary Pokemon known to exist, and we are still here to tell the tale" he thought. He reached to his belt and pulled out one of his strongest and most trusted partners.

"Charizard, I choose you!"

 **Chapter 3, good and done. I'm trying to get into the story fast without rushing it, while making sure everything still makes sense, so I'm sorry if it comes out weird. Next chapter should be great, as a fight for their lives begins. Stay tuned, and please review!**


	4. Legendary Brawl

**Chapter 3 ended with further revelations about just how powerful these new trainers are, but I know you guys want the battle to get on, so let's cut this little blurb short and get this show on the road!**

"Charizard, I choose you!"

Ash's Pokeball opened wide as the large orange draconic Pokemon appeared on the field.

"RUUUUUUUUUURR!" Charizard roared out. It's appearance on the field was marked with waves of energy launching outwards around it, kicking up dirt across the field.

"Charizard, I want you to be careful out there!" Ash warned his friend.

Charizard merely huffed at the opposing team, yet it took heed to his trainers words. It remembered the last time he had fought the Legendary Pokemon Articuno, and even with its type advantage, it had nearly lost that match.

"Ash, I want you to help me with that Kyurem" White told him. "Zekrom has a disadvantage here, so I need all the help I can get."

Ash nodded. "Sure thing." He turned to his Charizard. "Hey buddy, remember that super combo we've been practicing?"

"Raaaa" Charizard growled in response, giving a thumbs up to Ash.

"Alright Charizard, how about we open with that" Ash said, knowing he was about to call the first move in this battle of Legendary Pokemon. "Charizard, go and use Pseudo Draco Meteor!"

Ash gritted his teeth as Charizard flew into the air, knowing that this move was still tough for Charizard to pull off. The move was powerful, but executed more like a Contest Move than anything, which was difficult for a battle-raised Pokemon like itself.

Charizard raised into the air, two rings of of white energy forming around it. Each ring solidified into a bunch of sharp edged stones.

Ash remembered when his Charizard first learned Stone Edge. He had just recalled Charizard for a match in the Kalos League, and a trainer had challenged him to a training match before it all kicked off. His Charizard fought hard against the trainer's Noivern. His Charizard had been reeling from a Dragon Pulse, and was preparing for an incoming Boomburst attack. Charizard had then stood up and fired a newly learned Stone Edge straight through the Boomburst, knocking out the Noivern.

Charizard then spun and fired Stone Edge straight up into the air, each rock spiraling. Charizard then fired a powerful Flamethrower into the hailstorm of stones, each spiraling stone gathering fire around it.

"Okay, Charizard, finish the combo with your Dragon Rage!" Ash shouted. Neither White, nor Kyurem had made a move yet, as each were curious about the combo attack.

Charizard fired a focused blast of dragon energy straight into the center of the flaming stones. Once it was in the center of the attacks, Charizard detonated the blast, causing each rock to blast through the air, spiraling with fire and dragon energy.

"Nice Ash" White commented on the powerful combo attack. "Zekrom, protect yourself from any attacks" he commanded the Legendary Dragon-Type.

Zekrom roared and created an aura of electricity, zapping any stone that came writhing range into oblivion. Each remaining stone flew at the White Kyurem.

Kyurem roared and shot Fusion Flare at the attacks. Each Pseudo Meteor was incinerated as it entered the massive ball of fire.

The ball flew straight on through towards Charizard, who stood still in the air after releasing all of the energy into its combo attack.

Ash gasped. "Charizard, move out of the way!" Ash commanded, but Charizard's strength was sapped, and the attack scored a direct hit.

Charizard growled as it endured the powerful fireball. When the flames died away, Charizard was sinking through the air with several scorch marks over its body, and the members of the Fusion Flare surrounding it.

Zekrom began to glow as the embers touched its skin. White smirked and called out "Zekrom, use Fusion Bolt attack!"

Zekrom roared, then coated itself in a ball of blue lightning. The ball grew immensely larger as particles of the Fusion Flare came into contact. Zekrom then hurled itself through the air at White Kyurem.

There was a massive collision as the Fusion Bolt slammed into the Ice-Dragon Type, who was sent skidding backwards many meters.

"Okay Zekrom, follow it up with Dragon Claw!"

 _With Ash_

Ash stood next to the fallen Charizard comforting it. He was surprised that a single attack with a Type disadvantage had brought Charizard down to his knees. His trusty dragon had been brought out of the fight almost as soon as it had joined.

"It's okay, Charizard. You were fighting a Kyurem, it's okay to be brought down like this."

Charizard growled and tried to stand up, but flinched in pain and fell back to the ground. He turned to Ash with a defeated look on his face.

Ash then heard hurried footsteps behind him. He looked up and saw a face behind him that he hadn't seen in years. A man in an indigo cape and with spiky red hear stood behind him.

"Pika?"

"Lance?"

The Dragon Master Lance stood on the battlefield overlooking the trainer and his fallen Charizard. He took out three Pokeballs from his pocket and tossed each one into the air.

"Dragonite, Salamence, Altaria, I need your assistance."

The three Dragon-Types appeared on the field and looked at their trainer.

"I need the three of you to assist in the fray and fight the attacking Legendary Pokemon!" Lance called out to the Pokemon he had summoned.

Each Pokemon nodded and flew off towards the battles that went on on the field. Lance turned to face Ash. "Come, Ash, I have something that may help."

Curious, Ash got up and recalled Charizard. He sprinted after Lance as he hurried away, into the under stand passages. "What are you doing here Lance?"

Lance answered without turning around. "This year, I was chosen as the hosting Champion of the Pokemon World Tournament. Luckily enough, because as a Dragon Specialist, my Pokemon are able to hold their own against the likes of Legendary Pokemon."

Ash nodded when he heard this, knowing Lance's strength. "What did you mean when you said you had something to-" Ash was interrupted as there was a massive explosion outside, and strangely hot ice formed over the window grating.

"Kyurem's Ice Burn attack" Lance noted as they continued down the hall. "As you were saying Ash?"

"Oh yeah, what did you mean by you had something that could help me?"

"Ash, I bet you were curious about the enigmatic prize for the Tournament was?" Lance asked of him.

"Um, yeah, who wasn't?" Ash responded.

"Well, what if I told you that this special prize was the key to unlocking a hidden power in certain Pokemon that have a close bond with their trainer?"

"A close bond, hidden power?" Ash asked, scratching his head. Then it hit him. "Lance, you aren't talking about Mega-"

"We're here" Lance cut him off. He had stopped in front of an iron door. Lance inserted a key card into the slot and pushed the door open.

Inside, there was a table. On the table, the three boxes revealed at the beginning of his match what seemed like hours ago, but what had only been about about 10 minutes ago. Also, next to them, was a small chest.

"These were supposed to be for the winner of the Tournament, but considering that the tournament is dead anyways, and you are trying to fight for everybody's lives, I don't think that they'll mind if you get them" Lance said. Ash simply stood there, looking at the boxes. "Hurry and open them!" Lance egged on. "I have to get back to the battle, hurry and set up and get back out there" Lance said, rushing back out.

Ash walked over to the table where the containers lay. He took the lid off of the three boxes and gasped at their contents.

* * *

 _Cherrygrove Town_

* * *

"Hurry please! We need your fastest plane and someone who can fly us to Unova!" Cilan requested.

"Unova? And our fastest plane? That'll be quite an expensive trip? Are you sure you can pay for that?" The man at the airstrip warned them.

"I can pay for it, I used to be a Gym Leader" Cilan assured.

"Alight, two tickets, in our first class top rate jet to Unova, that will be 100,000 Pokedollars" the man totaled.

"100,000 Pokedollars?! That's highway robbery! By air. Airway robbery!" Iris declared.

"Shush Iris" Cilan warned. "We don't need to upset him, he's our only chance of getting to Ash on time."

Iris blushed as she realized her potentially disastrous action. She scolded herself, then stood up and walked with Cilan towards the runway.

"Alright, here she is, fastest plane we own, quicker than a Pidgeot using Quick Attack" the Pilot said proudly.

"Alright, let's get on and get go-" Cilan began, but was cut off when he heard "WAAAAAAIIIIIIIITTT!"

Cilan and Iris looked up and saw a Flygon descend from the night sky. A figure in red dropped off the Pokemon as it veered to fly off again.

"Huff, huff, wait" the newly revealed young girl wheeled out.

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" Iris asked.

The girl looked up at the two of them. "I need this flight, I have a friend in danger that I need to get to ASAP!" she demanded.

"I'm sorry young Miss, but I'm afraid I believe our matter is more urgent" Cilan said.

The brunette glared at Cilan. "I'm sorry, but unless your matter involves your best friend under attack by LEGENDARY POKEMON, then I doubt it" she shouted.

"As a matter of fact, it does" Iris said. "Our friend was competing in a tournament in Unova, and an army of Legendary Pokemon attacked him and his opponent's."

The girl gasped. "That's exactly what's going on with Ash!" she exclaimed.

Now it was Cilan's turn to gasp. "You know Ash? Wait, brown hair, red bandana, you must be May!"

"Wait, how do you know my name?" May demanded.

"We traveled with Ash as well. He described you to us before whenever he would talk about his past adventures" Iris said. "We were on our way to go help him."

"Ah, can I please go with you?" May begged. "I need to help him!"

"I'm sorry May, but I can't afford another ticket" Cilan conceded.

May shook her head. "I can pay with my contest winnings. Just let me go with you in that plane."

Iris grinned. "Alright then, May, welcome to the group."

The trio quickly bought the third ticket and boarded the small jet. In moments, they were in the air, soaring towards Unova. Each member was anxious to reach their friend in need.

* * *

 _Slateport Harbor_

* * *

"Please, just let me rent out your fastest ship. You've got to have something that can get to Unova fast."

"I'm telling you Miss Dawn, the fastest ship we have is still highly experimental. The Robo-Kyogre-"

"I don't care! I'm smarter than I look, and I really need to get to my friend Ash. He's in trouble!" Dawn declared.

"Wait, Ash Ketchum?" the man behind the the harbor desk asked. The man was large, wore a black bandana, and a blue jacket over a striped shirt.

"Wait, you know my friend?" Dawn asked.

The man gave out a booming laugh. "Lets just say, he goes way back with me and my pal Maxie" he replied. "If I had known you needed to help him, then I would've been a bit kinder. I owe him something of a debt, you see."

"Wait, does that mean..."

"Yeah, just let me give you a crash course on the Robo-Kyogre first. It's no good to your friend if you get stranded in the middle of the ocean."

"Alllllll, RIGHT!" Dawn cheered, pumping her fist into the air.

"Just go ahead do me this favor. Tell him Archie says hi."

* * *

 _PWT_

* * *

"Mewtwo, counter that Shadow Ball with Psyshock!" Red cried out.

Red's Mewtwo and Archer's Mewtwo were locked into fierce combat. Each attack was countered with another that sent smoke into the air. His opponent seemed to have an endless amount of strength, while his own had been fighting at a pace that was fast even for Legendary Pokemon. However, the most shocking part wasn't that his Mewtwo was locked into even combat with his opponent.

No, the most shocking part is that he was fighting evenly against Archer's Mewtwo with his own Mega Mewtwo Y.

The opponent was fighting with an unnatural power, as it was fighting a Mega Evolved version of itself and not tiring.

The rest of the battle was not going very well. Pokemon that should be overwhelmed were locked even. Groudon forced Rayquaza back with Stone Edge, Dialga blasted Giratina with Roar of Time before it was struck before Palkia's Spacial Rend, Shadow Lugia blasted the regular Lugia relentlessly with Shadow Attacks. In fact, only White was having any luck as Zekrom had been doing well against White Kyurem.

However, it was obvious that the luck was coming to an end, as Zekrom was struck by a full force Ice Burn attack. Zekrom fell, beaten and battered to the ground, burns coursing across its body.

White realized that his Zekrom's part in the battle was almost over, as the Kyurem shot a powerful Dragon Pulse attack at his fallen Zekrom. However, several things happened at once to change that.

Ash reappeared, and Charizard was out and fully refurbished. Charizard used Air SLASH on the incoming Pulse attack, but all that did was slow it down.

But then something happened that no one expected.

In a flash of light, a mighty Steelix stood in front of Zekrom, taking the full force of Dragon Pulse with only a wince.

Then, a Gyarados joined the fray, using a magnificent Outrage attack to force Kyurem on the defensive.

Ash looked up when the Steelix had appeared on the field, getting the strange sense that he had seen it before. Then he heard the familiar voice shouting out "Hey Ash, how's it going?"

Ash's smile was as big as ever as he saw his two oldest friends, Misty and Brock, standing at the edge of the stadium. He forced himself to not run over and hug them on the spot, remembering the battle that had to be fought.

As he turned around, he heard Misty call out to him. "Hey Ash, Gyarados can only keep that Pokemon occupied for so long. Do you have something you can do?"

Ash responded by giving a thumbs up to his old friend, in which he put in the spotlight a white bracelet on his wrist, and a round stone glistening in the center.

 **Sorry if you didn't get as much of the battle between the Legendary Pokemon in this chapter as you wanted. I can only include so much, and there are other elements that take priority. Brock and Misty arrived first, having access to Teleport, and the others aren't too far behind. And while you are waiting, tell me what you thought of Pseudo Draco Meteor. See you next chapter!**


	5. The Cavalry Arrives

**Well, I got nothing to say here. Lets get on with it.**

* * *

 _PWT_

* * *

"RAAAAAAAAAAWWWWW" Ho-oh cried as it flew at Palkia with the mighty Brave Bird attack. Ho-oh collided with Palkia's counterattack, Spacial Rend. As a massive explosion ensured, Ho-oh was seen flying backwards. But before Palkia could follow up the attack, it was forced back as Lance's Salamence came charging in with Dragon Rush.

Mega Mewtwo Y shot off a combo attack of Shadow Ball and Psystrike at the opposing Mewtwo, yet all that it did was force the opponent back several meters, before it retaliated with its own combo of Shadow Ball and Aura Sphere.

Rayquaza put its maximum effort into launching its most deadly Dragon Ascent, slamming into Groudon and nearly knocking it on its back. However, almost as quick as it toppled, it was steady and striking Rayquaza with Slash.

Altaria tag teamed with Giratina, alternating Hyper Beam and Dragon Pulse against Dialga, while Giratina phased in and out of sight with Shadow Force, striking with power. However, Dialga only seemed to become more and more enraged as it used Roar of Time repeatedly, sending Giratina into the colosseum walls whenever it struck.

Aeroblast was shot out of the air by the Shadow Blast from Shadow Lugia. Lugia used all of its strength to avoid the incoming attack, remembering its deadlines from the time that it was under the control of Team Cipher as XD001. As Shadow Lugia followed the purified Lugia's movements, it was blindsided by Dragonite's powerful Thunder attack, causing it to momentarily lose focus on the fight.

Gyarados was lying on the ground, half of its body frozen, and another portion burned. Steelix was encountering a Fusion Flare so powerful, it was slowly penetrating Protect. Zekrom stood a short distance away, recovering as much energy as it could so it could go head to head with Kyurem again.

"Gyarados, return!" Misty shouted, recalling the fallen sea serpent. She looked at the Pokeball and murmured "You deserve a good rest."

Steelix was sent as Protect faded, and Fusion Flare scored a direct hit. Brock pulled out his Pokeball and recalled his Steelix as well.

Zekrom began to glow yet again as the Fusion Flare dissipated. With a mighty roar, it used Fusion Bolt to strike Kyurem again.

Ash hesitated using his new trinket on his wrist. The pure white stone bracelet was the bearer of a deep multi-hued gemstone, which radiated on eerie feeling.

Ash looked towards his Charizard, who now wore a small necklace that fit around his neck like armor. Charizard's new necklace was also adorned with a jewel, one that was orange and red.

Ash knew that this was the only way for his Charizard to fight on par with the Legendary Kyurem, yet he remembered what happened to Korrina's Lucario when it first transformed. It had gone out of control, attacking and bringing a whole new meaning to the 'confused' status.

But when he looked back at his oldest friends, he knew that he had to.

"Charizard, are you ready?" Ash asked his Pokemon.

"Raaaaw" Charizard growled in response, giving him the thumbs up.

Ash took a deep breathe. "Alright Charizard" he said, raising his arms into the air, bringing his hand close to the bracelet. "MEGA EVOLVE!"

Ash touched the keystone on his wrist, beams of energy streaming from it to the stone on Charizard's collar. Charizard roared as the energy surrounded it, breaking off of Ash's keystone to encircle the dragon. The magnificent light caught the eye of everyone in the colosseum as it solidified into a radiant shell around Charizard.

The shell began to split, and an intense heat leaked out. Then Charizard burst forth from the light, Mega Evolved.

Charizard's wings had expanded, becoming more batlike than before. It gained a three point crown on top of its head, as well as spikes down its tail and a sharp fin on each arm.

Mega Charizard Y roared, shaking the arena with its new mighty voice. Heat radiated off of it at an intensity comparable to Groudon, and one flap of its wings kicked up a large cloud of dust.

Ash nervously approached the Mega Evolved Pokemon, apprehensive of what might come next. "Charizard?" he called out.

Charizard turned, and Ash was half expecting the wild, feral, slit-like eyes Lucario had had when it had lost control. But when Charizard turned to face its trainer, Ash only saw one thing in its eyes.

Confidence.

Ash let out a relieved laugh of joy as he saw his Charizard maintain control. However, through his joy, he didn't notice Kyurem fire an Ice Beam attack until it was almost on top of them.

Ash barely had time to react, but Charizard wasn't going down as easy as it had before. With a swift motion, it easily avoided the Ice Beam and climbed into the air.

Ash let his breath out as he saw Charizard remain unscathed. "Awesome dodge Charizard, now attack with Dragonbreath!"

Charizard rose even further into the air and took a deep breath, but the attack it released was not Dragonbreath. Charizard released an erratic stream of blue and red energy that rocketed towards Kyurem.

Kyurem raised an arm to block the attack, yet it still pushed it back a ways, and left a damaged patch on its arm. Ash looked at his Charizard in amazement, both at its new move and incredible power. "What was that move Charizard?"

White ran up to him. "Geez, Ash, your Charizard just used the most powerful Dragon Pulse I've ever seen!"

Ash scratched his head in confusion. "Dragon Pulse? But that didn't look like any Dragon Pulse I've ever seen. Whenever my Gible used it, it looked like a ball of blueish energy" Ash asked.

"Some moves have different uses depending on the Pokemon and how powerful it is. For example, Dragon Pulse has about three different variations. A sphere of energy, a wide, tube like variation, and the one your Charizard just used" White explained.

"That's awesome! But what I'm still confused about is how Charizard even used Dragon Pulse. He's never been able to use that attack before" Ash asked as Charizard soared to avoid another Ice Beam and countered with a powerful Flamethrower.

"Well, I've heard that sometimes, Mega Evolution can bring out special moves a Pokemon has trouble learning normally. I once saw a trainer have his Blastoise Mega Evolve, then it used an Aura Sphere of all attacks!" White said. "I would see if Charizard has learned anything else."

"Good idea" Ash said, pulling out his Pokedex. As he scanned the list, he recognized several new moves. Heat Wave, Air Slash, Fire Blast, Solarbeam, and Hyper Beam as well as the previously revealed Dragon Pulse. However, Ash recognized one move that couldn't have come from Mega Evolution.

Ash gained a large grin as he turned his attention back to the battle. "You had a little surprise you've been keeping from me, eh Charizard?" he asked his friend. His Charizard dodged a Fusion Flare and turned to give his trainer a toothy smile. Behind him, Zekrom took advantage of the recently launched Fusion Flare to strike with another Fusion Bolt, making the Kyurem breathe slightly harder.

"Well Charizard, let's give this a shot here" Ash said. Before he called the attack though, he noticed that Zekrom had recovered enough to engage in close combat with the Kyurem again, striking relentlessly with Dragon Claw and Outrage.

Ash sighed as he realized he had to hold of trying out Charizard's new attack a little longer. He heard footfall behind him as Brock and Misty rushed up to him. After they embraced each other as a greeting, they turned back to the fight.

"Wow Ash, since when did Charizard get so powerful?" Misty asked.

"He's always been really powerful Misty. Mega Evolution just brought out his inner power so he could fight Kyurem" Ash responded.

"Wow, I've only heard whispers about Mega Evolution" Brock said in awe. "Not only are the keystones and Mega Stones almost impossibly rare, but you need to be incredibly close with the Pokemon. But I never would have guessed it would let single Pokemon fight on the same level as Legendaries."

"Still, it almost doesn't seem enough" Ash sighed as he thought about his Pokemon's limits. "This Kyurem barely even seems phased by Charizard's direct hits."

"I don't think it has anything to how strong or weak Charizard is" White said, walking over. "Everyone else seems to be having the same problem. Even by the standards of Legendary Pokemon, they seem impossibly strong. Kyurem has been taking Fusion Bolts and Dragon Claws for a while now and is barely starting to show any signs of wearing down, while Zekrom has had to take every opportunity to tag out with Lance's Pokemon to recover."

As the four looked around, Ash realized that he was right. Red too had Mega Evolved his Mewtwo as well, yet it was being forced back by the opposing Mewtwo. Ho-oh and Salamence used powerful attacks such as Sacred Fire and Dragon Rush, yet Palkia used single attacks to overwhelm their tag attacks. Giratina used a Shadow Ball the size of a Snorlax, yet Dialga bashed straight through it with Iron Head, then turning around and whipping an Iron Tail, striking Altaria out of the air. Lugia was collapsed on the ground with multiple Shadow Wounds while Dragonite barely managed to keep Shadow Lugia at bay while surviving itself. Rayquaza, the master of the Hoenn Weather Trio, was growing weaker as it failed to block any of Groudon's attacks. It was nearly pierced through with a Prepice Blade attack before it managed to levitate back into the air.

"How is this possible" Brock asked. "They are far more powerful than they should be, and are on the verge of beating Pokemon that should be stronger than they are. Rayquaza was able to stop Kyogre and Groudon in seconds on its own in the past, but now it can barely hold its own."

There was a mighty crash as Zekrom was thrown into the wall, it's check signed and covered in ice. White gasped as he ran over to the fallen Dragon, observing the Ice Burn wounds.

Ash looked over and saw as Kyurem began to glow a vivid electric blue. Its body began to morph, hunching over more, it's arms falling beneath it, as it completed its transformation into Black Kyurem.

Kyurem roared as it began forming a large object in its hands, crackling with electricity. The ball soon grew massive, a chunk of ice with electricity crossing the surface.

Ash gasped. "Freeze Shock!" he shouted, recognizing the attack from his last encounter with Kyurem when Keldeo had fought it. He looked and saw that Kyurem was aiming straight for White and the fallen Zekrom.

"White, look out!" he called out. White looked up and saw the transformed Kyurem and the attack it was charging, but shook his head. "I can't leave Zekrom!" he shouted back.

"Well, then I guess there's no time like now" Ash gritted his teeth as he called out his next attack. "Charizard, stop Kyurem by using Blast Burn!"

"Blast Burn?" Misty and Brock shouted.

Charizard roared as the heat in the area intensified rapidly. Blue and red flames began to coat its body as the temperature rose to such levels that the Ice on Zekrom lying some distance away pooled off.

"RAAAAAAAAWWW!" Charizard screeched as it released a massive stream of flames from its entire body, reducing towards Kyurem. Kyurem saw the oncomming attack, but was stuck charging Freeze Shock, unable to move.

With a mighty explosion, the Blast Burn struck Kyurem dead on, charbroiling the surrounding turf, and turning it black. Ash stared intently into the smoke, looking for a trace of the Kyurem.

As the smoke cleared, a pit developed in his stomach as he saw Kyurem still standing. His Charizard's Blast Burn had managed to damage Kyurem, and reduce the size of Freeze Shock, but it was still standing and still charging its attack. Only one thing had changed about Kyurem.

Its target.

Kyurem's angry eyes were now directed at the immobile Charizard, still recharging from launching its Blast Burn. The ball of ice was rapidly regaining its mass, and gaining power.

"No, Charizard!" Ash yelled, running for his immobilized Pokemon, before he was stopped by two pairs of arms.

"Ash, don't do it" Brock said, restraining his friend.

"Do you really think it would help at all of you were killed by Kyurem?" Misty asked the struggling trainer.

"I... don't... care..." Ash panted as he struggled against their grasp. "Need... To... Help... CHARIZARD!" he yelled, breaking free of their grasp and running towards his Pokemon. His friends chased him, trying to stop him, but before he even was halfway there, Kyurem raised the massive chunk of ice above its head, preparing to fire.

"No, CHARIZARD!" Ash yelled, sprinting towards his Pokemon, still impossibly far away. Kyurem reached slightly higher, readying to fire, when...

"NOW!" three voiced cried out.

A Flamethrower flew out of the sky, blinding Kyurem. Following the burst of fire, a huge chunk of stone flew down, slamming straight through the prepared Freeze Shock, shattering it into countless pieces, the electrical energy releasing, shocking Kyurem. Then a flaming object flew down from the sky, smashing straight into the Ice Dragon and knocking it on its back.

The flaming object bounced off of the Kyurem and landed on the ground, revealing itself to be a very familiar Fire-Fighting Type. With a sharp stare, Blaziken stared over its shoulder at the cluster of trainers.

"HEEEEEEYYYY, AAAAAASSSSSHHHHH!" the voices cried from above. Ash looked up, the sight bringing a smile to his face. A familiar grumpy Dragonite descended from the sky, carrying May, Iris, Cilan, and Crustle on its back.

Dragonite landed and let its passengers off of its back. "Great job, Dragonite, return" Iris said, pulling out a Pokeball, but Dragonite shook its head and held out a paw.

"What do you mean Dragonite?" Iris asked. Dragonite responded by flying back into the sky, then diving at Kyurem with Dragon Rush.

Iris sighed. "Dragonite, always so headstrong."

Ash grinned at the group. "Great timing, guys. You really saved Charizard."

"Yeah, we were just lucky we had all the right conditions. We were so high up that Blaziken could deliver a really powerful Hi Jump Kick" May said.

"By the way, Charizard looks different. What's going on with it?" Cilan asked.

"I Mega Evolved Charizard so he could fight with the Legendary Pokemon" Ash explained.

"Mega Evolution, no way!" May exclaimed. "I heard that it brings out a Pokemon's inner power and then some, making it super powerful!"

"I also heard that Charizard has two different Mega Evolutions" Iris said. "Is this the one that makes Charizard a Dragon-Type?"

"I don't think so. I thought that it's Mega Evolution that makes it Dragon-Type is the one that makes it look like a Shiny Charizard" Brock said.

"Awww" Iris said.

"Raaaaaaw" the group heard a growl. Ash looked over and noticed Charizard was back up and ready to go.

"Alright Charizard, let's get back into action" Ash , ready to go again.

"And you won't be fighting alone" Brock said. "Go, Sudowoodo!"

"Don't count me out either" Misty said, withdrawing a Pokeball. "Starmie, let's go!"

"Blaziken, you still good?" May asked her Starter Pokemon.

"Blaze, Blaziken!" it responded confidently.

"Alright, let's go!"

"Dragonite, where are you?" Iris looked around for her most powerful Pokemon.

"RAAAAAUUUUUUUGGGGHHHH!" Dragonite screeched as it was launched by Kyurem's Dragon Claw. It landed on the ground with unfocused eyes.

"I tried to warn you, Dragonite" Iris sighed as she recalled the Dragon. She pulled out another Pokeball. "Okay, Excadrill, come on out!"

"Crustle, I'm going to keep you out if that's okay?" Cilan asked the hermit crab Pokemon. Crustle nodded in affirmation.

"Hey, don't start without me" a new voice called.

The group turned to see one last familiar face. "Dawn!" they greeted.

"Let's go, Mamoswine!" Dawn released her Pokemon into the group. The Mammoth Pokemon appeared, ready to fight for the trainers.

"Well, it looks like we have quite the number of extra trainers joining the fight" Lance said, walking over. "It's good to have reinforcements, my Dragons are nearly spent, and we need time to stall."

"Stall, for what?" White asked. He looked down at his Pokeball with concern, as he had to come to the conclusion that Zekrom was no longer able to fight.

"I just received confirmation that Alder and the Unova Elite 4 are on their way to this stadium to help" Lance said. He cracked a smile. "Finally some good news."

White laughed. "The five strongest trainers of Unova joining the fight? I'd say that that is some VERY great news."

"Yes, not too long until this ordeal is over. Just keep the Pokemon occupied" Lance said.

* * *

 _Aboard the Plasma Frigate_

* * *

"Sir Ghetsis, I have some bad news" a Plasma Grunt reported.

A man with green hair and a cold glare stared the Grunt down. "And that is?"

The Grunt gulped. "Sir, the Legendary Pokemon are beginning to tire out there. Even with their enhanced strength, they have begun to become worn out. More trainers have also arrived at the stadium as backup, even though they are without Legendary Pokemon of their own, they could be trouble. But Sir, the worst news is that our intelligence has picked up that the Elite 4 and Champion have left to join the fight."

"Hmm. I suppose it is no more than I expected. We may have not captured Rayquaza, but I suppose we have accomplished our other goal."

"Other goal, Sir?" the Grunt asked.

"We have struck fear into countless trainers who have witnessed the events that have happened here tonight, as well as shown that we control many of the most powerful Legendary Pokemon" Ghetsis paused. "Order a retreat."

"A retreat, Sir?" the Grunt asked in shock.

"If we are to stay for any longer, our chances of defeat here and now grow. You do not seriously believe that the trainers down there only control single Legendary Pokemon, do you? Red has been revealed to control one of each of the Legendary Birds, Gold is the same with the Legendary Dogs. The others are believed to have several others, and beyond that, if the leaders of the Unova League were to arrive, our defeat would be further assured."

The Grunt gulped again. "Right Sir. I will put out the order for a retreat now."

* * *

 _In the Stadium_

* * *

"Charizard, use Heat Wave!"

"Crustle, Rock Wrecker!"

The two powerful attacks combined and turned into a massive ball of molten glass. Kyurem was struck back a small ways, then surprise attacked by Blaziken's Sky Uppercut.

Mamoswine use Take Down and Ice Fang to strike Groudon while it was distracted trying to pin Rayquaza. When it turned around to attack Mamoswine, Excadrill used Drill Run to strike Groudon in the chest, inflicting critical damage.

Starmie lept into the air to fire an Ice Beam at Shadow Lugia, while Sudowoodo used Mimic to do the same on the other side. The attacks distracted it for long enough so Lugia could launch a Psycho Boost attack, knocking the Shadow Lugia out of the air.

"Alright Charizard, let's take Kyurem down!" Ash yelled. "Use Blast Burn!"

"Crustle, use Shell Smash then Rock Wrecker to assist" Cilan ordered.

As the two Pokemon began charging their most powerful attacks, something happened. Several streaks of light flew from the Plasma Frigate to each of the Legendary Pokemon all the trainers had been fighting. As each one connected, the Pokemon was transformed into energy and whisked away.

"What's going on?" Iris asked. "It looks like they recalled their Pokemon, but why?"

A heavy wind dominated the arena as every trainer looked up and saw the Plasma Frigate rise into the sky.

"Oh no they don't" Ash said. He turned to Mega Charizard. "Charizard, stop them from getting away, use Dragon Pulse!"

Charizard nodded and leaned up, charging the energy. However, before it fired, a base Kyurem appeared over the railing and shot Ice Beam at Charizard, bringing it to the ground and knocking it out cold.

On the ground, there was a bright flash of light as Charizard reverted to its normal form, unconscious. Ash held out his Pokeball and recalled the fallen Dragon.

Red, Gold, Brendan, and Diamond all ran over to the group. "They retreated?" Red asked, furious that they got away.

"Pika, Pikachu Pi!" Pikachu squealed angrily, making a rude paw gesture at the fleeing ship.

"Pikachu, don't do that" Ash scolded the electric mouse. Pikachu scratched the back of its head in embarrassment.

"Wow, Pikachu got kinda brave there" May laughed at Pikachu's antics.

"Never mind that, where are they going?" White asked. "You don't think that they were worried about losing, do you?"

"Who knows? Maybe they too caught wind of the Pokemon League coming, and decided to not risk continued battle" Lance said, walking up to the group.

Gold cracked a smile. "Looks like they chickened out. They controlled some of the Primordial Legendary Pokemon, yet were beaten up by a group of trainers."

Everyone laughed at this, and Ash and the other trainers more than anyone for the relief of surviving.

* * *

 _Later_

* * *

"Is all of this really necessary? It's our Pokemon you should be worried about" Brendan said.

The entire group was sitting in the main lobby of the arena, being checked on by Nurse Joy, which might have been a bearable process, if it had been brief.

"Yeah, come on, our Pokemon were the ones out there battling. The worst that happened to us is stress and anxiety" White said.

"I'm sorry, but this is a necessary process, I need to check any involved trainers for injury" Nurse Joy said. "Your Pokemon are being taken care of by my second cousin's sister."

"Oh man, one of these days I'm going to have a migraine from trying to understand how to Nurse Joy system works" Ash said.

"Owowowow" a voice said to his right. Ash looked and saw Misty dragging Brock away by his ear.

"I didn't even do anything!" Brock exclaimed.

"Yeah, but you were thinking about it" Misty replied. "Sorry Mister, but no Joy for you."

"Awwww" Brock whined as he was dragged out of sight.

Ash turned back to Nurse Joy. "Hey Nurse Joy, do you know how Charizard is doing?"

"That Charizard is doing fine" she assured Ash. "It needs a good night's sleep, and maybe some rest for a day or two, but soon it will be good as new."

"Great, I'm glad to hear it."

Nurse Joy then thought about something. "Hey, if you own that Charizard, then you must be Ash Ketchum" she said. "I almost forgot, there's someone outside who said the needed to see you as soon as possible. Your checkup is done, so you can go see him."

"Okay, thank you Nurse Joy" Ash said. He turned to his side. "Ready to go, Pikachu?"

"Pika Bi" Pikachu said, jumping on Ash's shoulder. He was about to Sprint out the door when he heard someone tell him to stop.

He turned to see Red walking towards him. "What's up, Red?"

"Can I come with you?" Red asked. "I've been in here for hours and need to stretch."

"Sure thing, let's go" Ash replied with a smile.

The duo walked out the door to the lot outside. It was easy to see what destruction the other Legendary Pokemon had caused. Chunks of the pier were gone, prbably due to Kyogre appearing, and pillars of ice still stood around the area.

"Huh, I wonder who this guy I'm supposed to be meeting is" Ash wondered, looking around.

"That would be me" a cold voice behind them said.

Ash and Red turned around to meet this voice, but were not expecting the sight that met them. Pikachu jumped off of Ash's shoulder, cheeks sparking, and Red threw a Pokeball, calling out his Poliwrath.

"It's you, what do you want?" Red asked harshly.

"Yeah, after what you've done, what are you doing here, and why, of all people, would you want me?" Ash asked.

A man with cold eyes and short brown hair stood before them. He hadn't even flinched when the two Pokemon appeared, ready to attack him.

"Call off your Pokemon first, then I'll tell you why I've come" the man said.

"Fat chance, I know how you run, and I'm not being here with you and no Pokemon" Red said.

"Pikachu, get back here" Ash said, much to the surprise of Red and the man. Even Pikachu looked at the trainer in shock before walking back.

"Are you sure about this, Ash?" Red asked. "You know what he is capable of."

"I'm sure, he wouldn't meet us in public face to face unless he had a good reason " Ash said.

Red recalled his Poliwrath. "I hope you know what you're doing, Ash" he said.

"Me too" Ash thought. He turned to the man. "Now, what do you want with me, Giovanni?"

* * *

 **Long chapter, took a while to make, and I hope you enjoyed it. I'm sorry if I ended the fight before you wanted it to be, but this story will have lots more, trust me. Now, onto business. Barely anyone has voted on the advanceshipping poll, and if it goes in for too much longer, then it will be weird to incorporate. So heres the deal, I close the poll in one week. If either almost no one votes, or the results are tied, then I will put it in, because I honestly like advanceshipping. But don't worry, because even if it comes into play, it won't overwhelm the story, it will still be focused on the adventure, mostly. Anyways, that's it for now. Hope you enjoyed it, and don't forget to review!**


	6. Unsuspected Guest

**I'm surprised that this story is so popular. Barely 6 chapters in and already I have more reviews and visits than Joined Worlds had at this point! It feels really good to have such a loved story. It always did seem that Pokemon was the most popular type of Fanfiction, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Anyways, I must have bored you for long enough, on with the story!**

* * *

 _Driftveil City_

* * *

"What do you want, Giovanni?"

Standing in the ruined surrounding of the Driftveil Stadium, Ash, Pikachu, and Red confronted one of their archrivals, the Rocket Boss, Giovanni.

Ash was acting calm, but beneath the surface, he was quite angry at the cold hearted man standing in front of him. The last time he had encountered Giovanni, he had put Meloetta through pain and suffering, and almost destroyed the Unova region.

Red's expression was unreadable, but Ash had the feeling he was none too happy with his appearance either. Red was a well known trainer in Kanto, specifically for being the one who took on Team Rocket almost singlehandedly, so Ash knew he was familiar with Giovanni.

"You know, Ash, why do we even bother to listen to him?" Red asked. "He's the mastermind behind too many crimes to count, including leading the attack here tonight. I say we bat him around for a bit with our Pokemon, then turn him into Jenny so he can go away for life."

Surprisingly, Giovanni laughed at Red's threats of pain and life in prison. "Oh, Red, you were always such a dark soul" he said. More seriously, "You would have been an ideal operative in Team Rocket."

Red spat on the ground. "Please, I wouldn't join that team of thieves if the fate of the Pokemon World hung in the balance. You have all but ruined my life over the years. I still don't know where Green, Blue, and Yellow are, because of you."

Ash glanced at Red, slightly amused. "Red, Green, Blue, Yellow? You really are a trainer from Pallet Town, aren't you?"

Red punched Ash on the shoulder, a bit rougher than he would have normally, but a glitter of humor in his serious eyes. "Now's not really the time for cracking jokes."

"Right" Ash said, turning back to Giovanni. "We're not here to listen to you try and recruit Red to your team. What do you want?" Ash asked again.

"For your information, it's not my team anymore" Giovanni said.

"Wait, what?" Ash and Red asked at the same time.

"Not your team, but your the LEADER of Team Rocket" Red said.

"I was, until a few days ago" Giovanni said. "As you may have noticed, it wasn't me, rather that scum Archer leading the attack with Mewtwo, and representing Team Rocket out there."

"Okay, Giovanni, start explaining what you're talking about" Ash said.

Giovanni sighed. "A few days ago, we were contacted by a mysterious man, claiming to be one of the most powerful trainers known, and he wasn't alone. He was accompanied by Ghetsis of Plasma and Mars of Galactic, as well as a man I hadn't known, but who claimed to be the last leader of an organisation known as Team Cipher in a far off region known as Orre."

"The man introduced himself under the alias Omega, and announced himself as the leader of a new organization, a new branch of Magma and Aqua, known as Team Delta. He claimed to have a massive workforce, made up of former operatives of Teams Magma and Aqua, and had a plan under which they would rule the world."

"He had already made ties with the remnants of Plasma, Cipher, and Galactic. His plan was to unite the known major organizations across the main region's, and his plan was to rule using not only the power of their size and the fear they already inspire throughout, but to control Legendary Pokemon in order to attack any rebellions. Plasma had already gained control over two Kyurem, Galactic had summoned Dialga and Palkia back to Mount Coronet and captured them, and the man from Cipher claimed to have a Lugia, unlike any other and with an unrivalled power. Omega himself also said he had access to the primal Pokemon of Hoenn, Kyogre and Groudon."

"Omega called to suggest forming bonds with Team Rocket. Somehow, they had found out about our recreation of Mewtwo, one modified to have more power than the original. When this offer was made, I declined, holding Team Rocket's individuality as one of its major strengths."

"No time to drone on about your pride and self confidence, that doesn't explain why your team was still here tonight" Red replied.

"I was getting to that" Giovanni said. "Anyways, not too long after the call ended, some of my admins came storming up to my office. Archer in the lead, they furiously asked why I didn't join the group, claiming it was agolden opportunity for Team Rocket expansion. When I held my ground, things began to get violent. All of the attacked me at once. Two Gengar and Archer's Crobat attacked me. The battle raged through the base, my Rhyperior against the three Pokemon. Eventually, outside the base, Rhyperior began to become tired out. As I went to call out Golem, Crobat swooped in and stole my Pokeball belt. Rhyperior, Golem, Persian..." Giovanni's voice trailed off, and Ash understood why. No matter who you were, and how evil you were, you gained a close bond with your Pokemon. Giovanni losing his favorite Pokemon had to have been hard.

Red seemed to understand this as well, as he allowed Giovanni a moment before he urged him to continue.

"As I was saying, Archer's Crobat stole my Pokemon. He recalled my Rhyperior and told me to leave base an to not return again, otherwise, I wouldn't be going at all. At this point, three operatives still loyal to me, and who I know see as my most loyal, got between the admins and me."

"Wait, three operatives, your most loyal, you don't mean..." Ash said, an eerie sense of fear filling him.

Giovanni nodded. "Yes. Jessie, James, as well as Meowth stood up for me, telling the admins that without me, there was no Team Rocket. At this, they each called out Pokemon, Meowth attacking on his own. They were badly beaten, and the Gengar badly wounded each of them with Sludge Bombs. At this point, I realized I was beat, and agreed to leave peacefully, those three leaving with me. While Meowth was recovered quickly at a Pokemon Center, Jessie and James took severe poison from the Gengar, and fell into comas in a hospital."

Ash gasped as he heard what had happened to the trio. He may not have been friendly with them, but they never struck him as terrible people. They hadn't deserved that for showing loyalty for their boss.

"Where's Meowth?" Ash asked Giovanni. "You said he recovered well, but Jessie and James were in the hospital."

"Over here, Twoip" a voice a small distance away said. Behind a pile of rubble, a small feline Pokemon stepped out into the open.

"Talking Pokemon? They're rare, really rare" Red said.

"Yeah, yeah, quite yo gawkin at me like I'm a museum exhibit" Meowth said. He looked at Ash. "Sorry about hiding there, Twoip. I figured if ya saw me right off the bat, you would have been a little less likely to be so friendly."

Ash cracked a small smile as the talking cat Pokemon approached, even if he did move a bit closer to Pikachu as he did. "Wow, I never thought I would say this, but I'm glad that you're okay, Meowth."

"Yeah, I just wish I could say the same about Jessie and James" Meowth sniffed. "At least we got the boss out o there safe."

"I'm not so sure you can consider me your boss anymore until I can regain control over Team Rocket" Giovanni said. "I don't often do this, but if I do regain control, you can all consider yourselves promoted. You showed true loyalty there."

Meowth teared up a tiny bit. "Aw man, a real promotion, straight from da boss. It doesn't get much better than this."

"Sorry to cut through this little reunion" Red said, "but we still have to discuss the business here. I doubt you came here just to chat about losing your job. What is it you want from us?"

"Right. I figure, being the heroic types that you are, will be attempting to stop those teams. I have a couple Pokemon that I smuggled away that may help you with that, as long as you promise to stop those teams with them" Giovanni said.

"Pokemon? What do you mean, Pokemon?" Ash asked. "How could a couple Pokemon help out against the Legendary Pokemon they control?"

"You more than anyone should know the hidden power of a Pokemon, Twoip" Meowth said. "Mister, 'I have a Pikachu who can Thunderbolt a Reshiram hard enough to break mind control'."

"Indeed, these Pokemon are quite powerful for their species" Giovanni said, taking out two Pokeballs. "Red, you may recognize what we have done with this one."

He opened the Pokeball, the bright flash of light revealing, an Eevee?

Red growled angrily enough to scare a Tyranitar into hiding. "You went ahead, and did that to an innocent Pokemon, AGAIN?!"

"Red, do you know what this Eevee is all about?" Ash asked.

"Damn right I do" Red said, angrier than ever. "They experimented on that poor Eevee like they have done in the past. That Eevee has undergone so many tortuous experiments that-"

"Allow it to evolve and devolve into any of its forms at will" Giovanni finished.

"Vui? Eevee vee?" the small dog Pokemon looked around. There was a bright flash as it became a Vaporeon, then became an Eevee again. Another flash and Leafeon was standing in front of them.

"It doesn't look like it's in pain, but I agree with Red. It's not okay to do that to a Pokemon" Ash said.

"You can take it or leave it, but it is going to be stuck in a Pokeball a lot if it stays with me" Giovanni retorted. "Hopefully you don't get as worked up over this next one, this one isn't an experiment."

The next Pokeball burst open to reveal a large, red scorpion Pokemon. The Pokemon had two arms with a pair of pincers as well as a tail with a third set.

"Wow, a Drapion" Ash said. "But what's with the color, I thought Drapion tend to be purple."

"This is a rare, Shiny Drapion, that James encountered not too long ago" Giovanni explained. "It also appears to be much more powerful than the breed standard, and knows many rare attacks."

"This was James'?" Ash asked.

"Yes, his last words were to use his Pokemon to help. I figure that one of his most powerful Pokemon may be best in the hands of one who has experience truly battling with Pokemon rather than using them in missions" Giovanni said.

"What are the odds of one of your lowest class operatives finding a rare Shiny, as well as abnormally powerful, Pokemon, then catching it?" Red asked, still angry and not ready to trust Giovanni over the Eevee. "You seriously want us to believe that someone like that, caught a Pokemon like this? Didn't experiment this one my-"

"Red, enough of that" Ash said, weary of all arguing. He wasn't the most trusting of Giovanni either, but he believed his story enough to trust him in the moment.

"Every Pokemon deserves companionship, even if they are experimental or artificial, they are still Pokemon, and still living things" Ash said. "I'll take them."

"Ash, are you sure, accepting these Pokemon from a crime lord?" Red asked. "For all we know, they could be ordered to take us out in our sleep, or immobilize us so we can be captured."

"I'm sure Red, I meant what I said before" Ash said.

"Take them, then" Giovanni said, pressing the Pokeballs into Ash's hands.

"Alright. Drapion, return!" he said, recalling the scorpion Pokemon to a new owner. He then held out the other. "Leafeon, re-" Leafeon cut him off by transforming into Umbreon.

"Oh, Umbreon, re-" Ash was stopped again as Umbreon transformed into Eevee, sniggering at its practical jokes.

"Just, return" Ash said, somewhere between annoyed and amused, and recalling the Eevee.

"I trust you will use these Pokemon to knock Archer and the rest of the traitors in Team Rocket down a peg" Giovanni said, turning to walk away. "Meowth, come."

Meowth nodded an turned to Ash. "Promise me dat you'll avenge my pals Twoip" he said.

"I will, Meowth, you have my word" Ash assured.

Meowth nodded in understanding, then turned to chase after Giovanni in the distance.

"You know, I may have slightly turned a bit darker since my period of solitude on Mount Silver," Red said, "but I still think we should have creamed Giovanni then turned him over to Jenny."

"Seriously, Red, you need to tone down your seriousness" Ash said. Then he paused for a moment, and said "That sends a bit of a mixed message, doesn't it."

Red laughed at that, then looked at Ash. "Yeah, sure thing. I just need to get a little less instinctual, you have no idea what two years in a high-altitude hailstorm can do to someone. I just got to ease back in."

"How long since you've been down?" Ash asked.

Red scratched his head, then answered "I've only been down for about two months so far. I heard about the tournament not too long after, so it took most of that time just to get here." Red grinned in embarrassment. "I'm not quite back into taking vehicles yet, Lapras took me most of the way here."

Ash let out a little chuckle. "I had a Lapras a while back, but I let it go so it could be with it's family. It's probably still somewhere around the Orange Islands."

"Geez, it seems like we are almost the same person sometimes" Red laughed. "We're both Pallet Trainers, we both had or have had Pikachus, Laprases, and Charizards, what are the odds?"

Ash laughed at this observation. As he thought about what Red had said, he began to think about all the Pokemon he had left somewhere. The first two Pokemon he caught, Butterfree and Pidgeot were off somewhere. Butterfree had its own family somewhere far off the shores of Kanto, while Pidgeot might still be in Viridian Forest if the flock hadn't migrated. His Squirtle was off with the Squirtle Squad Firefighters, and his Primape was probably still training for the P1 Grand Prix tournaments.

Ash shook himself out of his stupor. "So what are you going to do now that the tournament is called off, Red?" Ash asked.

Red placed his hands behind his head and leaned back. "I'm not sure. All I've truly ever done is adventure through Kanto, and it's been tough to start doing normal things again. Battling is one of the few things I understand. Even all the way up on top of Mt. Silver, I still had some awesome battles. You know, Gold actually met me up there while he was training, and he managed to defeat me."

"Yeah, we all have had some good adventure, haven't we?" Ash asked, more to himself than anyone. "That battle wasn't just hard because of how powerful the Pokemon were, but because I have met most of them before. Dialga and Palkia protected us when Arceus attacked in a rage, and I met Kyurem when I was helping Keldeo. He seemed like an evil Pokemon at first, but he saved us, and he revealed that he was only testing Keldeo's strength. All of those Pokemon, under the control of such bad people…" Ash trailed off.

As Ash thought about how horrible that was, a drop of rain struck him in the forehead.

"Huh?" Ash wondered. He noticed that clouds had gathered back into the sky, and it began to rain again.

"Ash, GET DOWN!" Red yelled, noticing it too and tackling him to the ground, not a moment before several jets of water flew over their heads, striking the stadium walls.

"GO, ZAPDOS!" Red bellowed as he stood up. The Legendary Electric Bird Pokemon materialized in midair. As Zapdos ascended, Kyogre revealed itself in the waves of the harbor.

"Zapdos, use Charge Beam" Red shouted to his Pokemon.

" _Raaaaaawwwwwww_ " Zapdos cawed, gathering energy within its beak. It fired a thin beam of electricity towards the Sea Titan Pokemon.

Kyogre cried and released and Ice Beam to counter, clashing in an explosion of electricity and ice. A band from the Ice Beam flew off and struck the stadium again, causing a portion of the wall to collapse.

"Oh no" Ash muttered as the debris fell and blocked off the one open doorway. All the others around the stadium were still blocked from the attack by the flaming ice created by White Kyurem.

"Zapdos, use Thunderbolt!" Red shouted before turning to Ash. "Looks like we aren't getting any help from the others on this one, Ash. I need some help over here, use a Pokemon with a type advantage."

Ash looked at his buddy. "Well Pikachu, whaddya say?"

"Pikachu Pi" Pikachu said, pumping its tiny first and nodding.

Ash and Pikachu may have been confident, but Red wasn't so sure. "Ash, I know your Pikachu is really strong for it's species, but it's still a Pikachu, which are pretty frail by nature. Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I trust Pikachu's strength 100%" Ash affirmed.

Red sighed. "Take this at the very least" he said, tossing an orb on a necklace at Ash. "Put that on Pikachu."

Ash caught it and looked at it. "Is this a Mega Stone?" Ash asked, confused.

"Zapdos, use Steel Wing to block Ice Beam, then counter with Shock Wave" Red commanded his Zapdos before turning to Ash. "No, Pikachu has no Mega Evolution. It's sort of a genetic assurance that only Pokemon with the ability to naturally evolve anymore can Mega Evolve. No, that's a Light Ball, a mysterious item that greatly amplifies a Pikachu's attack power."

"Pika, Pika Bi" Pikachu said, shaking its head.

"What? You want to fight Kyogre without the Light Ball?" Ash asked.

"Pi" Pikachu said simply.

"Sorry Red, but Pikachu only likes to use its own power. It's been dodging evolution for years, and I think that using this Light Ball is too close to that."

"That's okay and all, but promise me if things start to look bad, you'll use that Light Ball, Pikachu" Red said.

"Pika" Pikachu assured.

"Also, Pikachu, you think you could help Zapdos out?" Red asked.

"Isn't that what we're doing?" Ash asked.

"No, I mean by strengthening Zapdos. I've trained all my Pokemon to where they can activate their Hidden Abilities at will. Zapdos can activate Lightening rod, where it can draw any Electric-Type attacks to absorb them and boost its power. Can you give Zapdos a good shock?" Red asked.

"Sure thing. You heard him Pikachu, use Thunderbolt on Zapdos" Ash said to Pikachu.

Pikachu jumped into the air and curled up. "Pikaaaaaaa, CHUUUUUUUUUUUU!" it cried as it let out a strong burst of lightning towards Zapdos.

Zapdos fanned out its wings and spread its feathers. As Thunderbolt drew near, it diffused into multiple smaller bolts, being absorbed straight into Zapdos.

" _Craaaaaaaawwwwwwww_ " Zapdos cried as it strengthened.

"Thanks for that, Ash" Red called.

"No problem Red" Ash said. He turned to Pikachu. "Alright, Pikachu, jump onto Zapdos."

"Bi, Pikachu Cha" Pikachu said, leaping onto Zapdos as it flew low to the ground, bracing itself on its back as Zapdos ascended back into the air.

"Alright, they sent that thing here to take us out with a sneak attack. They are so low, they can't even bother the fight us face to face. I don't know about you, but that gives me a bone to pick with them" Red said.

Ash nodded. "Yeah, that was a pretty cheap shot."

Red smirked. "Yeah, but we're not going to let them get away from this clean. Whaddya say we make this Kyogre go belly-up?"

"Yeah, lets go, Red" Ash said.

Zapdos flew in the air, Pikachu riding him with a backdrop of storm clouds.

" _KRUUUUUUUUHHHHHH_ " Kyogre cried, large orbs of water levitating around it.

" _Raaaaaaaawwwww_ " Zapdos cried, fanning out its wings, the smell of ozone filling the air, electricity coursing through its body.

Kyogre roared as it fired off its Origin Pulse attack, each orb rocketing through the air towards Zapdos.

As fast as Kyogre could fire its attack, Zapdos launched a massive Thunder attack, bolstered by Pikachu's own Thunder. The Double Thunder clashed with Origin Pulse, blasting each other out of the air, leaving both Pokemon unscathed.

Ash pumped his fist with energy. "Sorry, but we won't be going down that easy, Kyogre. Let's show you a real battle!"

* * *

 **Not much to say about this chapter, besides it has been a while since I've posted one. Not too long, but less often than what I have been. Well, I hope you enjoyed, and I love any reviews for my story, so please Read and Review. Cya next time!**


	7. Primal Battle

**Sorry guys, update times are going to start slowing now that I'm back in school, as well as working on both of my stories. But don't worry, I've experienced too many unfinished stories myself to put you through that, so all my stories will be completed eventually. Anyways, let's go!**

* * *

 _Driftveil Docks…_

* * *

"Zapdos, ascend to dodge out of the way, then use Thunder!" Red commanded the Legendary Bird Pokemon.

Zapdos flapped its wings to gain altitude while avoiding the rocks flung at it by Kyogre's Ancientpower attack, then proceeded to generate a large amount of electricity.

Kyogre turned after Zapdos as it ascended, and once it stopped to prepare its Thunder attack, Kyogre shot a powerful Hydro Pump straight at it.

"Oh no you don't, Pikachu, use Electro Ball to counter" Ash yelled.

"Pika!" Pikachu cried, jumping into the air and flipping to whip an Electro Ball at the Hydro Pump. The move wasn't nearly powerful enough to cancel it out, but it stalled it temporarily. By the time it was overwhelmed, Zapdos had gathered enough electricity to launch a devastating Thunder attack, striking through the Hydro Pump and hitting Kyogre dead on.

"Awesome!" Red cheered as the super-effective attack struck Kyogre. "Let's see you make a move when you have 1000 volts of electricity coursing through you!"

Electricity skipped across the surface of the ocean, spreading and dispersing across the waves, and the cloud of smoke began to clear away from Kyogre.

"What?" Ash asked. As the smoke cleared, Kyogre was revealed to have disappeared. "It can't of just vanished."

"As much as I'd like to say that my Zapdos' Thunder completely disintegrated Kyogre, I know that's not the case" Red said. "It probably used Dive to escape and recuperate."

"Why don't we just use Electric-Type moves on the surface of the water to force it out?" Ash asked.

Red nodded. "Not a bad idea, but this is salt water. It's not a great conductor of electricity. Besides, if there are any ocean Pokemon left in the area with Kyogre around, then they will get shocked also, and we don't want to hurt innocent Pokemon."

"Oh" Ash said. "Fair point. I just didn't think that any Pokemon would be left around. I've seen entire schools of Finneon and Luvdisc disappear because of a small group of Sharpedo. I thought Kyogre would've cleared them out of the way."

"That's not entirely implausible, but it's a risk we can't take" Red responded. "We need some way to flush Kyogre out without taking out any other Pokemon."

Red took a Pokeball from his pocket. "And I think I have just the teammate to help us do that" he said, tossing the Pokeball into the air.

The ball opened releasing a bright light, which fell the the ground and materialized into a bulky, round, blue Pokemon.

"Wrath!" Poliwrath said as it viewed its surroundings.

"Hey, Poliwrath, I need a little help from you, but it's going to be dangerous. You up for it?" Red asked his most trusted Pokemon.

Zapdos landed on the ground besides Red and Pikachu jumped off, landing on Ash's shoulder.

"Poli!" Poliwrath said, giving Red a thumbs up.

"Alright, here's the plan, Poliwrath. There's a Kyogre down in that water there, and we need to flush it out. I need you to dive down there, locate Kyogre, and bring it back up here with your Focus Blast" Red explained.

Poliwrath nodded and wasted no time diving into the pier, going off to search for Kyogre. Red then turned to his Zapdos. "I'm probably going to need you back in the air in just a moment here, Zapdos, so here, take this" he said, handing his Zapdos a Sitrus Berry.

Zapdos took the berry in his beak and swallowed it. A moment later, it felt quite revitalized, spreading it's wings and cawing.

Suddenly, their attention was brought back to the water as a blue light lit it up. "Alright, Poliwrath found Kyogre" Red cheered, noticing the blue light as the explosion of a Focus Blast.

Bubbles began to come up from the surface as the water frothed violently. Then Poliwrath broke through the surface of the water, soared into the air, and fell to the ground, unconscious.

"No, Poliwrath!" Red cried out as he ran over to his very first Pokemon. Poliwrath was heavily bruised, probably from Kyogre attacking it, and was barely breathing.

Suddenly, the water began to glow again, a very light blue glow similar to that of Focus Blast. The surface began to froth once more as a humongous entity emerged from the brine. Rain began to fall so hard it struck like hail, and small bits of the dock began to erode and crumble into the ocean. Then Kyogre appeared.

"What the-" Ash yelled, looking at Kyogre. Kyogre was not the same as it was before. It was now substantially larger, and all the ancient red lines that had coursed across its body before were now glowing white. It had also darkened from a normal blue to more of an indigo color, giving it an all around more dark and powerful appearance.

"What happened to Kyogre?" Ash asked loudly, barely heard over the sound of the storm.

"I don't know, I've never heard of Kyogre being able to Mega-Evolve, so what is this?" Red asked, just as confused.

" _KRUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHH"_ Kyogre bellowed, raising countless orbs of water from the raging ocean.

"It's using Origin Pulse!" Ash yelled, grasping at a Pokeball on his belt.

"Go, Palpitoad" Ash yelled, summoning the only Pokemon that he knew he owned that had Water Absorb as its ability.

"Palpitoad, absorb that attack!" Ash yelled.

"Palp!" Palpitoad affirmed, jumping in front of Kyogre, and readying itself. It stared Kyogre down, unyielding from the Legendary Pokemon's gaze.

" _ROOOOOOOOOHHHHHH!_ " Kyogre roared again, firing off dozens of Origin Pulses, straight at Palpitoad.

Palpitoad closed its eyes as they drew near, and it's body became sheathed in a soft blue light. As each Pulse hit, they were absorbed into Palpitoad's skin, doing no damage.

"PALP!" Palpitoad yelled, opening its eyes and countering with Sludge Wave, sending a stream of gunk at Kyogre. The stream hit, but Kyogre was unfazed by the Poison-Type attack. Kyogre leaned back, then sent a stream of frost towards Palpitoad, obviously learning from its previous mistake or using a Water-Type on it.

Icy Wind struck directly, knocking Palpitoad on the ground, almost out in one shot. Palpitoad struggled to stand back up, then spinning around and launching a Mud Shot attack at the Kyogre. The attack barely fazed it again, and the heavy storm washed the mud out of Kyogre's eyes, so that its vision was not impaired.

"Palpitoad, that's enough, return" Ash called out, recalling the Vibration Pokemon. Ash gritted his teeth in despair, as he wasn't even sure that defeating Kyogre was possible at this point. Whatever new power it had gained put it well beyond the limits of any of Ash's Pokemon, and Zapdos wasn't having much luck either. After Ash recalled Palpitoad, Zapdos took off, launching a Thunder attack, but Kyogre shrugged it off and nearly shot it out of the air with a single Hydro Pump.

"This isn't looking good Ash" Red said, looking at the battle. Everything about the battle inspired a feeling of helplessness. The heavy storm and gray, frothy waters looked gloomy, Kyogre's power and its ability to take almost any attack without sustaining any damage made them feel powerless, and they were down to their last chances to stop it. Ash looked back and saw the rain further eroding the weakening stadium, but by the time any of his friends could get out, it would probably be too late.

"Pikaaa…" Pikachu whined, struggling to keep a hold against the heavy wind. Ash and Red also had to race themselves to keep from sliding back, and Zapdos was being buffeted around in mid air, relying on skillfully timed Agilitys to keep itself from being knocked out by Kyogre.

"I only have the other two Legendary Birds as Legendary Pokemon, but against Kyogre, they wouldn't be able to do much" Red said. Mewtwo is still recovering, Poliwrath is down, Zapdos is about to be, and my only other Pokemon is Aerodactyl, which wouldn't last long in this storm" Red said. "I'm not sure for how much longer we can keep defending."

Ash thought of the Pokemon he had on him at the moment. Charizard and Palpitoad were down, Pikachu was struggling to even keep standing, Pignite wouldn't do well against a Water-Type like Kyogre, so besides them, he had Heracross and Swellow, which both wouldn't last long against Kyogre.

"If only I had Sceptile or Snorlax with me" Ash said. "They might have been able to hold out longer against Kyogre."

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm not going to let Kyogre beat us, not without giving it my all" Red said.

Ash nodded, smiling. "I feel the exact same way, Red. Maybe _all_ Pallet trainers are born with fighting spirit."

Red laughed. "It would sure seem that way, huh?"

" _Raaaaaaawwww!_ " Zapdos cried, yanking their attention back to the fight. Zapdos was crashing to the ground, its wingtip frozen from Kyogre's Ice Beam. It hit the ground and plowed a trench through the dock.

"No, Zapdos" Red said, recalling the fallen Bird Pokemon. "Well, Ash, we may be ending things here sooner than expected" he said heavily.

" _KRUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHH!_ " Kyogre roared, once more, as it began lifting orbs of water from the briny surface of the ocean.

"Here it comes" Ash said, closing his eyes. After all the crazy, awesome adventures he had, it would all come to an end, overwhelmed by the immense power or the lord of the sea, Kyogre.

Then, just as Kyogre prepared to launch it's final, devastating attack, a new voice rang out, barely heard over the storm. " _Golurk, use Flash Cannon!"_

A stream of light energy came flying out of the sky, striking through all of Kyogre's Origin Pulses. Ash and Red looked around wildly, not being able to see where the attack came from due to the heavy storm.

Kyogre became enraged. It opened its mouth and began charging Ice energy, readying an Ice Beam, yet it stopped when a new, soothing voice rang out across the battlefield.

" _Mel-le-le-le-le-le, le-le, le-le, mel-le-le-le-le-le, Melo…"_

Ash gasped as he heard the voice, recognizing it immediately. He turned to the sky, where the voice echoed out onto the field. "Could it be..?"

" _Me-le, Me-le, Me-le-le-le-le, Me-lo-etta! Me-le, Me-le, Me-le-le-le-le, Me, Me, Me-Me-Me!"_ the voice echoed out of the sky, getting closer. A bright glow descended as a large figure descended from the clouds.

A large Golurk flew down from the cloud layer, using its arms and legs as boosters. On its shoulder was a man with blue hair and goggles, and a glowing figure whose light began to fade soon after appearing.

As Golurk descended, the light completely dissipated, revealing a small Pokemon, that looked like a woman wearing a brown dress, with white skin, orange eyes, and orange hair in a wrap-around fashion.

"It's Ridley and Meloetta!" Ash cheered. He hadn't seen those two since the catastrophe at the Undersea Temple, and it was good to see them.

"Hey Ash, long time no see!" Ridley called. "It was looking like you needed some help down there!"

"Melo!" Meloetta cheered as it flew down and greeted Ash, flying around his head rapidly.

"Ha ha, it's good to see you too, Meloetta" Ash laughed. Meloetta cheered as it circled Ash, then stopped and tensed up.

"Meh!" Meloetta cried as it pushed Ash to the ground, just as an Ice Beam sailed over his head. Ash may have hit the ground hard, but it was less painful than that Ice Beam would have been.

The Ice Beam kept going and sailed towards Ridley and Golurk, who luckily was able to use Protect to shield the two of them. "Wow, quick thinking there" Ridley said.

Meloetta floated up and glared at Kyogre, readying a battle stance. Ash stood up behind it. "Meloetta, come back, Kyogre is just too strong."

Ridley jumped off Golurk and ran over to Ash. "That's right, Meloetta, this Pokemon is far beyond the strength of the Forces of Nature that we fought at the Undersea Temple. Kyogre rules over the ocean and is the most powerful Water-Type to exist, we can't fight it."

Meloetta ignored the two behind it pleading for it to come back, and placed its hands in front of itself. A blue sphere or energy began to form in Meloetta's hands as it stared down Kyogre.

Ridley sighed. "There's no convincing Meloetta to back down now, it seems to have taken it as a personal insult that Kyogre attacked you."

"But we can't just let Meloetta go off and fight Kyogre" Ash said.

"You forget, Ash, that while Meloetta looks frail, it is still a Mythical Pokemon, which means that it is on par with several Legendary Pokemon" Ridley said. "Plus, it's also been getting stronger since it left, so it could begin to protect itself, rather than relying on others."

Meloetta twisted, then launched a powerful Focus Blast straight at Kyogre. Where Kyogre could shrug off Zapdos' Thunder attack, Focus Blast succeeded in knocking Kyogre back several meters, lifting out of the water slightly.

"Wow, no kidding" Ash said. "Meloetta got _really_ strong!"

Meloetta heard this, turned around, and smiled, before turning back to the battle. Kyogre launched an Origin Pulse attack at Meloetta, which was countered by Meloetta's Close Combat, striking each one as the came near to Meloetta.

Meloetta raised into the air and took a deep breath. Ash saw this and knew what was coming next. "Alright you guys," he shouted to Ridley and Red, "You may want to cover your ears."

The three of them got their fingers in their ears just in time, before Meloetta unleashed an incredible Hyper Voice attack, sending water soaring into the air and shattering shards of glass that littered the ground.

Kyogre was pushed further back through the water, taking more damage from Meloetta.

Red had his backpack on the ground, and he was rifling through his stuff, looking for something.

"What are you doing there, Red?" Ash asked.

"I know I have something in here that can help, I just got to, here we go!" Red said, pulling out a spiky gem the size of a softball.

"Huh, what's that?" Ash asked.

"It's an extremely rare item known as a Max Revive. You crush the gem and sprinkle the dust over a fainted Pokemon, and they are brought back at full power" Red explained. "I figure with that Meloetta here, if I can revive Zapdos, we stand a fighting chance at taking that thing down."

Red took Zapdos' Pokeball from his pocket and expanded it. "Okay Zapdos, let's go" he said, tossing it.

Zapdos materialized on the ground in a wounded state. It was barely breathing, hardly conscious, and it's wingtip was still frosted over.

"Here you go, Zapdos" Red said gently, holding the Max Revive and both hands and crushing it into powder. He let it fall and sprinkle all over Zapdos, then he took a small pink bottle from his bag and sprayed some fluid on the iced wing.

After a moment, the ice melted and Zapdos' eyes shot open. Zapdos jumped onto it's feet, spreading its wings, and crackling with electricity.

" _Raaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwww_ " Zapdos cried as it felt its power return, and drawing the gaze of Kyogre, allowing Meloetta to land a powerful Acrobatics attack, stunning it.

"Alright, Zapdos, ready to get back in action?" Red asked. Zapdos gave an affirmative look towards his trainer, which brought a smile to Red's face. "Sweet."

Ash felt something tugging on his pant leg. He looked down and saw that Pikachu was pointing towards Kyogre and Zapdos.

Ash kneeled down and patted Pikachu's head. "Sorry buddy, but with these heavy winds going on, you can barely stand up as it is. If you were riding Zapdos again, then you would probably turn into a Flying-Type yourself."

"Chaaaaa…" Pikachu whined sadly.

Behind them, Zapdos flapped its wings and took off into the air, zeroing its vision down on a single target; Kyogre.

And this time, Kyogre couldn't focus on Zapdos alone. Now it had to deal with Meloetta and Zapdos simultaneously, making things much tougher on it.

Kyogre opened its mouth and began to charge Ice Energy, aiming straight at Zapdos. However, something came at his side and struck him hard, which turned out to be Meloetta's Psyshock attack. When Kyogre turned to launch it at Meloetta instead, Zapdos pounded it with Thunder attack.

"Look at that, Kyogre can't even keep up anymore" Ash cheered. "It was way more powerful than one Pokemon, but when he's dealing with two, well, that's a whole 'nother story!"

"Heh, yeah, I'm no liar. I promised that we'd make this Kyogre go belly-up, am I right?" Red asked.

However, the one to not join in on their celebrations was Ridley. He only concentrated on the battle, looking serious. "It's not over yet, you two. Kyogre alone is powerful, and with this transformation it has, things aren't looking good. Kyogre may not be able to keep up on the attacking front, but if you notice, even Zapdos' Thunder is barely much more than a distraction to it."

"Hmm?" Ash and Red asked simultaneously, turning to the battle. Sure enough, as they watched, even when Zapdos landed a perfect hit with Thunder, Kyogre only appeared to become more and more enraged, while not appearing to be taking damage at all.

"How is it possible for one Pokemon, even a Legendary Pokemon, to be so strong?" Red asked.

"Type Advantage isn't everything in a fight, other factors matter too" Ridley said.

"Wait," Ash began, "haven't all the Legendary Pokemon that they've been using seemed unnaturally powerful, even for what they are. Red, you said that their Mewtwo had an edge over your Mega Mewtwo. And other battles, like when my Charizard and Zekrom fought Kyurem at the same time. We could out maneuver it, but we couldn't really hurt it that much."

"Yeah, now that you mention it, the Pokemon were beyond their breed standards. That Mewtwo must have been genetically modified beyond mine, they must have built it for pure power. But what about the others? You can't modify a living Pokemon to that extent" Red said.

Zapdos flew down towards Kyogre, it's wings shining gray. Kyogre tracked it as it approached, readying a Hydro Pump. When Kyogre launched it, Zapdos twisted, avoiding the brunt of the attack and cutting through the rest with Steel Wing. After that, it struck Kyogre and unleashed Discharge attack, shocking Kyogre down to its very bones. While Kyogre turned to follow Zapdos, Meloetta got up in its face and bashed it with Close Combat.

"Well, either way, I think we can defeat Kyogre in the long run" Red said. "It's definitely beginning to tire out, and it can only take so many super-effective attacks, especially when Zapdos' Thunder is being boosted by this rainstorm. Look at all the hits we're landing!"

And Red was right. After the recent combo attack between Thunder and Close Combat, Kyogre truly started to look damaged. On top of that, some leftover electricity from Zapdos' attack was coursing over Kyogre's body, a surefire sign that Zapdos had managed to paralyze it with its last attack. The brutal Close Combat from Meloetta didn't do it any favors either, because if Kyogre were able to become bruised, then it most certainly was.

"Wow, Red, your Zapdos is really powerful" Ash praised. He then turned to Ridley. "And what kind of training did Meloetta do to make it so strong?"

Ridley laughed. "I don't know. Meloetta always did it in private, and never used me or Golurk as training buddies."

Kyogre was growing infuriated that it could not seem to target Zapdos nor Meloetta for any sort of attack. Anything it used was countered before it was even launched by the other.

Kyogre started generating power, and was going to use the rainstorm to maximum effect. It launched a full scale Thunder attack of its own towards Meloetta. Yet as soon as it got close, it veered away, going straight for Zapdos, who had its wings fanned out and had activated its Lightningrod Ability to help Meloetta.

"Haha, look at that. Without a trainer there to support it, Kyogre has to go off of instinct rather than strategy" Ridley said.

"Yeah, without trainer commands, Pokemon don't have nearly as much strategic combos, the majority of the time. Some Pokemon are quite smart, yet the majority can't fight nearly as well without a guide" Red said.

"Really?" Ash asked. "My Pokemon always seemed to fight really well, even when I didn't have any commands to give them."

"Well, like I said, some Pokemon are quite smart. And it also helps if they have a good trainer to raise them" Red said. "My Pokemon have always been pretty good at independant fighting also. This battle has been so fast, I've barely been able to command Zapdos once, yet it's been doing quite well in this fight."

Indeed, Zapdos was fighting exceptionally well. Between his power, speed, and his help from Meloetta, he had inflicted serious damage to Kyogre, well not even taking a single hit himself. The Electric-Type attacks, dealing super-effective damage each time, were seriously starting to make Kyogre become fatigued.

" _KRUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHH_ " Kyogre roared in one last attempt, raising several orbs of water from the rough ocean, completely surrounding itself on every side.

"Mel" Meloetta grunted, preparing itself for the attack, getting into stance for its Close Combat attack.

" _Raaaaaawwwwww_ " Zapdos cried, generating as much electricity as possible for it to use Discharge.

" _KRUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHH!_ " Kyogre bellowed, launching countless Origin Pulse attacks through the air, streaming towards Meloetta, Zapdos, and even Ash, Red, and Ridley.

"Golurk, guard us with Protect!" Ridley commanded. Golurk moved in front of the trio and put up a green bubble style barrier, completely negating all Origin Pulse attacks aimed at them.

"Meeee, looooo, ETA!" Meloetta cried, unleashing a furious combo of martial arts, striking each individual Pulse out of the air, causing water to splash everywhere as each one unleashed a pseudo-explosion.

" _RAAAAAAWWWWWW!_ " Zapdos cried, unleashing dozens of tendrils of electricity through the air. Each tendril met an Origin Pulse and caused an explosion on contact, negating each one.

Several more that missed all of them flew out into the sky, over the ocean, and straight towards the stadium. As each Pulse hit the stadium, the debris blocking the entryway was blasted apart, freeing up the opening.

Then a large group of people came rushing out, consisting of Misty, Brock, May, Dawn, Iris, Cilan, Gold, Brenden, Diamond, and White.

"What's going on out here? We've been trying to get out here forever now, but everyone kept warning us that moving the debris would cause the hall to collapse!" Gold shouted.

"It's Kyogre, come on guys, we could use all the help we can-" Ash said, turning back to the battle scene, then stopping dead. "Get?"

The water in which Kyogre had been in mere moments ago was now completely absent. The rainstorm was still heavy, but had begun to calm. Zapdos and Meloetta were both circling the spot where Kyogre had just inhabited, looking down into the depths.

Brenden raced to the edge of the docks. "Did you say _Kyogre_ was here?" he called back.

Iris and Cilan also ran to the docks, but for a different reason. "Is that Meloetta?" Iris asked, looking out over the water.

Meloetta turned at the sound of its name and noticed Iris and Cilan on the pier. "Meloetta!" Meloetta cheered, flying over to the duo and flying around the two in glee.

Brenden ran over to Ash, a serious look on his face. "Ash, were you joking when you said Kyogre was here. _Please_ tell me you were joking. We do not need them having told the truth when they said they controlled Groudon _and_ Kyogre."

"Sorry, Brenden, but no joke" Ash replied. "We just spent the last half hour battling it, and I guess it just fled."

"Oooh, this is bad, this is extremely very not good" Brenden said, almost woozily. "I can't believe they control both of the other members in the Hoenn Weather Trio."

"Speaking of the Hoenn Weather Trio, you know quite a bit about them, right?" Red asked.

"Yeah, why?" Brenden replied.

"Well, Kyogre did something weird while we were fighting it" Red began. "After I sent Poliwrath down to bring it back up to the surface so that we could still fight it, it changed. It got a lot bigger, got darker, summoned an even more powerful rainstorm, and it seemed to be filled to the brim with this light energy. Any idea what that was?"

Brenden almost lost consciousness when he heard this. "I don't suppose, that after telling the truth about Kyogre, that you're making this up, are you?"

Red looked confused. "No, why?"

Brenden hung his head down and sighed. "This is even worse than I thought." He lifted his head back up. "You see, how you see Kyogre and Groudon as they are now, is not how they have always been. In ancient times, they were much more powerful, more massive, and more deadly. They lost the extreme power these primordial forms gave them when they entered their several millennia slumber beneath the planet. However, they are able to regain the power of these forms when they gather power from the Cave of Origin in Hoenn and are in contact with their special artifacts, the Red and Blue Orbs, through a method known as Primal Reversion. That allows them to temporarily re-attain the power of their primordial forms while in battle. For some reason, there needs to be the do or die adrenaline of a conflict to activate the transformation, similar to Mega Evolution."

"So that was Kyogre's Primal Reversion?" Ash asked.

Brenden nodded. "From what you described, yes, that was Primal Kyogre. It must have absorbed the Blue Orb into itself so that as long as it has energy from the Cave of Origin, it can Primal Revert anytime."

Red let out a low whistle. "Wow, that is not good."

"Yeah, you're telling me" Brenden muttered.

"Well, there's only one thing to do" Red said, standing up straight. He pulled out a Pokeball and recalled Zapdos. "One night at the Pokemon Center to heal my partners, then I'm going to track them down and take down their network!"

Everyone looked at him in shock. "Wait, are you sure about this, Red?" White asked. "These guys aren't just ragtag Pokemon thieves anymore, they're a global organization, with several Legendary Pokemon on their team."

"I don't care. First, they attack the stadium full of innocent people with deadly Pokemon, then they try to sneak attack me and Ash with that Kyogre, and both times, they've fled before they can be defeated, like a big bunch of cowards. They are not going to get away with this" Red finished dramatically.

There was a moment of silence as Red's words sunk in. "Well, you've got me convinced. I'm in" Brenden said.

"What?!" Everyone shouted.

"You're right, we can't let them harm anyone anymore" Brenden said to Red. "We need to take them down before they can do it again."

"Spoken like a true hero" Red said, patting Brenden on the shoulder. "It'll be nice to not do this alone."

"And you won't just be a duo either" Gold said, stepping up. "I've battled with you Red, and if you're going to fight them, you are _definitely_ going to need my help."

"HEY!" Red yelled jokingly, lightly punching him in the shoulder.

"And of course, we can't let you guys have all the fun" Diamond and White both said, stepping up.

"We have a little score to settle with those hooligans ourselves" Diamond said. "Their going to pay for their crimes, and their not going to be able to piece themselves back together this time."

"Yeah, and I think that it's time to let Ghetsis know that he's a bit too old to be running that thing" White said. "And what better way than through example?"

The group laughed as they planned out their adventure to take down the organization threatening the Pokemon World. Then, one last voice was added in. "Got room for one more there?"

Misty, Brock, May, Dawn, Iris, and Cilan all gasped as Ash stepped forward to the group of Red, Gold, Brenden, Diamond, and White. "Because I've got a little score to settle with them too" Ash said.

"Um, excuse me, Mister?" Misty said, grabbing his ear. "What do you think that you're doing?"

"Ow, Misty, let go" Ash said, tugging away from the redhead. "Sorry, Misty, but you're not my mom."

"Yeah, but Ash, your Mom actually was worried just when she saw the Legendary Pokemon attack the stadium, to the point of fainting. What do you think going on a worldwide adventure to stop a criminal organization of the same magnitude will do to her?" Brock asked.

"I'm sorry, Brock, but I've got to help these people, I can't just let them get hurt" Ash said.

"Come on, Ash, just because you were prophesied in the legend of Lugia and the Orange Islands, doesn't mean that you're the global Chosen One" Misty argued.

"Come on! You think that I'm doing this for some rush of adrenaline, or because I'm so full of myself thinking I'm some Chosen One?" Ash asked, starting to get angry at one of his oldest friends. "You don't think that I care about the millions of people that are being endangered by these guys?"

Misty shrunk back. "I didn't mean it like that, Ash."

May and Dawn stepped forward. "Listen Ash, we just worry about you, because we're your friends, and we know how dangerous this mission is, and what could happen" May said.

"Yeah, think of how dangerous these guys are, and how easily they could k-k-k-k…" Dawn couldn't finish.

"Seriously, Ash, think about what you're doing instead of jumping in head first like a little kid" Iris said. "Don't you realize how risky this is?"

"Indeed, an adventure this dangerous is a recipe for disaster no matter how you mix it" Cilan said.

"Enough" Ash said firmly, to all his friends at once. "I'm sorry you guys, but yes, I understand what I'm getting into, and I'm sorry, but it's something I have to do."

All of Ash's friends fell silent, as they knew that there was no way to stop him from going on his quest to stop the Teams.

The final drop of rain pinked down on the harbor, Kyogre's rainstorm coming to a complete stop. Besides the cold wind, there was not a sound. Ash and his friends were in a deadlock with each other.

Brock was the first to break the silence. "Well, as the old saying goes, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em."

"What?" Ash asked.

Brock grinned. "Ash, if I can't convince you to stay, then I guess I've just got to come along for the ride. Besides, if these guys are anything like you, you're going to need someone who knows how to pack for long travel, as well as someone who knows how to cook."

"But Brock" Ash said. "What about your dreams of becoming a Pokemon Doctor?"

Brock chuckled. "What use is it to be a Doctor, if we're all enslaved to the point where we probably won't even have the Pokemon to heal?"

"And I'm coming too" Misty said. "My sisters were starting to get annoying, and Kanto was beginning to feel pretty small anyways."

"The Grand Festival in Johto is over anyways, and besides, the last time I had a really good time was way back when we were looking for the Undersea Temple," May said, "So count me in."

"The Hoenn Festival isn't anything nearly as important as the fate of the planet" Dawn said. "So I'll join you."

"We've pretty much seen the majority of Johto by now" Cilan said. "Me and Iris would be delighted to accompany you."

"Yeah, this doesn't sound like any kid's game" Iris said. "I can't let you guys have all the fun."

Ash looked shocked at his friends' unanimous response. His mouth was agape in surprise.

"Well, whaddya say?" Brock asked.

Ash shook himself out of shock, and gave a smile bigger than any he had given before. "That's awesome and all right with me!"

"YEAH!" each of his friends shouted, pumping their fists in the air.

Behind him, Diamond chuckled nervously. "You sure this group is big enough yet?"

Everyone laughed at this. As they calmed down, Ash asked the obvious question. "So where do we start?"

Red put on a thinking face. "Hmm, well, we need a good night of rest, for both us, and our Pokemon. Tomorrow should be spent gathering supplies for the journey. We won't always be able to use our flying Pokemon, so we should be ready for lots of nights camping out. Then, well…"

"Let's check out the old Magma\Aqua hideouts in Hoenn" Brenden suggested. "Omega said Team Delta was an offshoot of Aqua and Magma, so maybe they raided the old bases for tech and research."

"That's not a bad idea" White conceeded. "We might be able to find a trace of their plans, or at least something useful."

"Yeah, maybe Maxie or Archie left something useful" Brenden said.

"Wait, Maxie and Archie were the leaders of Team Aqua and Team Magma?" Dawn asked with a slightly apprehensive tone.

"Yeah, why?" Brenden asked.

Dawn gasped. "Did Archie dress with a black and white striped shirt, a blue jacket, and a blue bandana?"

"How did you know that, Dawn?" Ash asked.

"Because I met him in Slateport City" Dawn revealed.

"Wait, you're not kidding?" Brenden asked. "Archie is in Slateport City?"

"Yeah, he rented me this speedboat called the Robo-Kyogre from the Slateport Docks to help me get here" she said.

"Perfect, we can go check with Archie when we get there and see if he can illuminate us on anything" Brenden planned.

"Well, before we do anything, let's go get a good night's sleep" Red said. "Come on team, let's hit the sack."

"Sounds good to me!" Ash cheered. "Today was a lot more exciting than I was planning for."

The entire group turned around to walk towards the Pokemon Center to give them and their Pokemon a good rest. Pikachu, glad that it could finally stand again, jumped onto Ash's shoulder.

The gang looked forward to a good night's rest, but were stopped by one last thing.

"Melo!" Meloetta called, flying after the group.

"What?" Ash said, turning around to see the Mythical Pokemon flying towards him. "What is it, Meloetta?"

"Mel, Meloetta, Melo" Meloetta said.

"Umm…" Ash said, not understanding. "Hey Ridley, could you translate for me?"

"Yeah, I can, but first," Ridley said, turning to Meloetta, "Meloetta, are you sure about this?"

"Mel" Meloetta affirmed, nodding its head.

"Well Ash," Ridley said, turning back to face him, "It would appear that Meloetta wants to travel with you."

"Say _what?_ " Ash exclaimed. "Meloetta, you know what we're doing is going to be hard and dangerous, right?"

"Meloetta!" Meloetta nodded its head, showing that it understood what Ash meant. "Melo, Mel Meh Meh Meloet."

"It says that it wants to travel again, and that it really liked the time it spent with you, Iris, and Cilan, so it wants to join with you. It also wants to help you get rid of the evil that plagues this world, knowing how it felt to be enslaved by Giovanni at the Undersea Temple, and not wanting any other Pokemon to have to experience that."

"Meloetta, are you really sure about this?" Ash asked.

Meloetta responded by flitting around Ash, smiling in affirmation.

"Well, it looks like Meloetta has its mind made up" Ridley said. He dug into his pocket and pulled out a black Pokeball with red and yellow lines running across it. "I know that Meloetta has never been in a Pokeball before, and may not like it, but I also know that Meloetta can be an easy target if it's out all the time. This Luxury Ball should be comfortable for Meloetta to travel in, so that you can keep it on you" Ridley ended by putting the Luxury Ball into Ash's hands.

Ash turned back to Meloetta. "Last chance Meloetta. I can't guarantee nothing will happen to you, so be sure."

Meloetta gave Ash his answer by pressing its hand to the button on the Luxury Ball. The Ball opened and whisked Meloetta inside in a flash of red glittering light. The Ball closed and wiggled a few times before sparking and falling silent.

"It looks like it was ready to do it" Ridley said. "Take care of Meloetta, Ash" he said as he climbed onto Golurk.

"Don't worry, you can count on me" Ash said.

Ridley smiled. "Golurk, use Fly" he said.

Golurk took off into the night sky, leaving the group on the ground. Ash looked down at the Pokeball in his hands. "Welcome to the team, Meloetta."

* * *

 **Hurrah, Ash got his first Legendary Pokemon. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, as I tried to write the battle with Kyogre as best as I could. Sorry it took so long, between school and chores, it's been hard to find a moment to write. But anyways, don't forget to leave a Review, and I will see you next time!**


	8. Preparing for Adventure

_Driftveil City_

* * *

It was deep night in the shoreside city, Driftveil. And the Pokemon Center was packed to the point of bursting.

The large group consisting of Ash, Red, Gold, Brendan, Diamond, White, Misty, Brock, May, Dawn, Iris, and Cilan had trouble finding enough rooms for them to all sleep in. The Center was already pretty full considering the amount of people who had come to the city to watch the Pokemon World Tournament, and with the large amount of extra people staying one last night in the city, there almost wasn't enough space. Luckily, Red decided he wanted to camp outside, so that freed up enough space for all the rest of them to be able to cram themselves into rooms.

Ash, Cilan, and Gold snored in the same room. Lying next to the windowsill, Pikachu, Pansage, and Meloetta lay sleeping soundly. Red camped just up the hill from the window, laying in his sleeping bag in the branch of a tree, and everyone else was in the three adjacent rooms.

However, the night wasn't peaceful for all. Ash sat bolt upright, looking around wildly as if he had just got zapped by Pikachu's Thunderbolt.

Ash stifled a yawn and rubbed his eyes, looking at the time. The electronic clock read 1:37 a.m. Peering around and looking out the window, he noticed nothing out of the ordinary, yet he couldn't shake the feeling that something had just happened.

"Piiiiiiiii…" he heard the yawn come from over by the windowsill. Ash noticed Pikachu had heard him get up and woke up himself.

"Hey Pikachu" Ash whispered. "Sorry, I don't know why, but I feel like something bad just happened.

"Pika, Pika Bi" Pikachu said quietly, nodding at Ash.

"You feel something too?" Ash asked. Pikachu nodded again in affirmation. "But what does it mean..?"

Ash looked at his Pokedex to see if he had gotten any messages from any of the professors, because while it was unlikely, that was the only way he could find out anything right now.

"Man, is the entire journey going to be like this?" Ash wondered. "Sleepless nights, never being able to relax, always worried about what's coming next?"

Surprising to him, he actually had one message in his inbox. He lowered the volume of his Pokedex and played the message.

The image of Professor Oak popped up on screen. "Ash, this is Professor Oak. Me, your mother, Brock, Misty, and Tracy each witnessed what happened during your competition, and we were worried sick for your safety. Brock and Misty took off to attempt to reach you, however, I don't know if they will have been able to reach you by the time you receive this. Ash, if you get this message, we need you to contact us as soon as you can. Your mother already looks extremely sick, and she needs to know that you are safe. Please, let us know." With this, the image of Professor Oak disappeared from the screen, leaving Ash in an empty inbox.

Ash felt a sick sensation in his stomach. How could he have forgotten something as important as his family's worry. So many of his friends had arrived on the spot that he had completely ignored the worry that his mother had.

"How can I do this to her?" Ash asked himself. "She's supported me throughout my entire journey to become a Pokemon Master, but this is more dangerous than almost anything that I've ever done there."

Ash shook his head and crawled under his covers. "I'm sorry, Mom, but this is something that I have to do" he whispered before falling back into the embrace of darkness.

* * *

 _Morning_

* * *

"Ugh, who turned on the lights?" a voice whined.

Up in a tree, wrapped as tightly in his sleeping bag as a Caterpie is wrapped in a Metapod, Red woke up to sunlight glinting through the tree's leaves, shining right on his eyes.

"Why did I decide to sleep up a tree?" Red asked himself. "The ground would have been just as comfortable, more considering I wouldn't have been balancing on a thin branch all night."

Red wriggled out of his sleeping back and dropped to the ground, pulling his sleeping bag and pack down with him. He rolled up the sleeping bag and stuffed it into his backpack, which he then slung over his shoulder.

Red walked down the hill until he was right behind the Pokemon Center. He pulled the first Pokeball from his belt and tossed it into the air. "Poliwrath, let's go."

The Tadpole Pokemon materialized in a flash of light, standing strong. " _Poli!_ " it cried out.

"Good morning, Poliwrath" Red greeted his first Pokemon. "He, you think that you can wake those guys up by shooting a weak Bubblebeam at the window?"

"Wrath" Poliwrath nodded. It faced the window that Red pointed to and fired a stream of tiny bubbles at it.

Coincidentally, just at that moment, the window was thrown open by Gold, wanting to take in a deep breath of morning air. What he got instead, was a facefull of bubbles.

"Whoops, sorry Gold" Red said unconvincingly as he attempted to hold his side to ease the stitches of laughter he was in.

Gold stood back up, looking out of the window, none too pleased. "Come on, I thought that we were passed that last time I beat you on top of Mt. Silver. It's not my fault that it came down to Typhlosion and Venusaur!"

"My bad, I was just trying to hit the window to make enough noise to get you guys up" Red chuckled. "It was just bad luck that you opened the window at that moment."

"Well, it looks like the only one that you'd be getting up is me" Gold said. "Ash and Cilan beat me up, and their Pokemon left with them."

"Well, I'll be right in, maybe they're down in the cafeteria getting some breakfast" Red said.

"Right. See ya down there" Gold said, shutting the window.

"Alright, let's go get some breakfast ourselves, Poliwrath" Red said, walking around the side of the Pokemon Center with his most trusted Pokemon right behind him.

However, he met the group he intended to meet sooner than he thought. Ash, Cilan, Brock, Misty, May, White, and Brendan all sat in the lobby, with very serious expressions on their faces as they looked at the T.V.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Red asked. He no sooner said that than he wished he hadn't. Everyone turned to look at the approaching trainer with faces of dead seriousness. "What happened?" he asked with an apprehensive edge to his voice.

"I knew something happened when I woke up last night" Ash said angrily. "I woke up late last night, feeling like something had gone wrong, and something did."

Red walked around and turned to look at the T.V., and gasped.

"This is Gabby here, with my cameraman Ty" the news reporter introduced. "We are here with live coverage of the late night attack on the Indigo Plateau. As you can see, behind me, the majority of the Plateau is unscathed. However…" Gabby said as the camera panned around.

The Pokemon League building, home to the Elite 4 and Champion of the Kanto region, had been completely encased in a massive dome of ice, sealing the entire building and all of its inhabitants within.

"It appears that the Pokemon World Tournament Stadium, in Driftveil, Unova, was not the only stop of this new threat to peace across the regions" Gabby announced. "Several eyewitnesses reported a massive ship descending from the sky above the Indigo Plateau, from which emerged two giant Pokemon, the descriptions of which match the classification for none other than the Legendary Pokemon, Kyurem, an Ice Dragon with the powers to take on the abilities of the other Legendary Dragons of Unova, Reshiram and Zekrom. Eyewitness tales recount that the two Kyurem transformed, sheathing the entire building in a dome of Ice, as well as Fire and Electricity. The Ice, mixed with the other elements, has proved to be unnaturally durable, as even a direct Fire Blast from the Dragonite of Lance, returning from the World Tournament in Unova, did absolutely nothing to damage the ice dome. Also, we have heard reports, that, while unconfirmed by this reporter, the Pokemon Leagues of every well known region in this part of the world have also been covered in a similar trap. This includes the Pokemon Leagues of the Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos, Tunod, Vesryn, Torren, and Omni regions. At this point, there have been no fatalities, as this move seemed to be more geared towards keeping the most powerful trainers out of this organization's way, and as the Leagues are well stocked with food and supplies, all inhabitants should be fine for the moment. But for now, they are trapped."

The news report ended, and left the room in shock. "Those low life scum" Brendan said angrily. "They didn't want the Elite 4 and Champions to get in the way of their conquest, so they trapped them, which could as good as killed them if they don't get out before supplies run out."

Ash looked quite angry too, but also somewhat thoughtful. "I've never heard of some of those regions that they mentioned. What are they?"

White looked at Ash. "Well, I've heard about a few of them. Omni is a region far to the East, and the entire place is much harsher than pretty much any other known region. It's so tough out there, that most beginning trainers receive Dragon-Types as their starters to help them survive. Vesryn is a Western region, a large region with lots of technological advancements, and even some unique Pokemon there that are said to be of a different type of the norm for their species. All I know about the other two is that Tunod is a region West of Johto, and Torren is somewhere around Vesryn, plagued with violent cults that worship Legendary Pokemon."

"Ash, you aren't seriously planning out your next journey right now, are you?" Misty asked.

"No, I was just curious" Ash said, raising his hands in self defense.

"Well, it sounds like every region with an Elite 4 anywhere on this side of the planet has been shut down" Brendan said. "They probably used that Mewtwo of theirs to help them strike them all overnight."

"Yeah, and they used the powers of Black Kyurem and White Kyurem to make the ice all but impenetrable" White said. "Team Plasma did something similar a few years back, during my journey through Unova. They used the power of Kyurem to launch and ice cannon from their ship. The cannon froze Opelucid City, coating the entire place in ice for weeks, and even Drayden couldn't melt the ice with any of his Dragon-Type Pokemon. That was just harnessing some of Kyurem's power. If two transformed Kyurem, did this themselves…"

"I see what you mean" Red said. "We have no idea how much power or time it would take to get rid of that ice barrier surrounding the Pokemon Leagues."

"One thing that I'm curious about though," White began, "is how did the Kyurem transform? Last time I fought a Kyurem, the only way that it could transform was through fusing with a Reshiram or Zekrom using the DNA Splicers."

"Really, because when I saw Kyurem for the first time, it was able to jump from form to form at will" Ash said.

"Maybe once a Kyurem has experienced a fusion with Reshiram or Zekrom, or once they have matured their powers enough, they may be able to transform without needing the full dragon" Red reasoned.

The group seemed to think this as a reasonable explanation for the phenomenon. Brendan proceeded to stand up. "Well, we can't just sit around and stew in worry all day. We need supplies if we are going to make this journey."

Once Dawn, Gold, and Diamond arrived, they started making plans. "Alright, so, we are going to need a lot of food to keep us going. Cilan and Brock are our most accomplished experts on food, so I suggest they take care of that part" Red suggested. "Me and Gold will go get the miscellaneous supplies that we need to help us, such as ropes and other materials, since we've had the most experience in the wild. Dawn and White should go get spare clothing, being as Dawn is a clothing expert and White lived in Unova, so he knows about the best materials for retaining heat. Everyone else, go out and start getting medicines for us and our Pokemon. The Driftveil Market should be a good place to start. Moomoo Milks, Revival Herbs, and Lava Cookies should be our best options, and the ones that should take less of a toll on our wallets. Alright, everyone ready?"

Everyone nodded in affirmation. "Alright, let's try to get everything ready today so that we can head out first thing tomorrow" Red said.

"Right!" everyone said.

* * *

 _Driftveil Market_

* * *

Ash, Misty, May, Iris, Brendan, and Diamond each split up once they hit the bustling marketplace. They remembered what the main items to get were, however, there was one thing that would be hard to by in bulk.

"Geez, 2800 Poke a pop for Revival Herbs?" Brendan let out a low whistle. "They didn't cost this much back in Lavaridge Town. I made some money in my adventure, but not that much."

Brendan knew that with the amount of money he had, he could definitely get a fair few, but not as many as were needed. Depending on how long they would be out and about, they needed at least a good 40 or so. Yet he could only barely afford about 25 if he spent all of his money.

Brendan looked up at the clerk. "I don't suppose that there's any sort of discount for League Champions?" When the clerk shook his head, Brendan sighed and reached into his pocket, his trainer card already feeling lighter, if that was possible.

* * *

 _Across the market_

* * *

Diamond, Ash, and May headed over to the foreign merchandise area. May was able to easily locate the Hoenn section.

"So, Lava Cookies, huh? They don't look like cookies" May commented. "They're only the size of Cloyster Crackers."

"That's the point of a Lava Cookie. They are supposed to be small so that Pokemon can eat them really easily" Diamond explained. "They're packed with nutrients that allow a Pokemon to fight off any sort of off condition. An energy boost to awaken a sleeping Pokemon, antibodies to rid them of poison, and so on."

Ash picked one up and studied it. "I wonder what they taste like."

Diamond chuckled. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, Ash. They may be called 'cookies,' but they really are medicine. They are really spicy, and kind of crumble into dust in your mouth, leaving it all chalky."

"How do you know so much about how they taste?" May asked.

Diamond laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head. "Let's just say, I asked the same question as Ash did one time."

The two laughed at Diamond's misfortune. "So how many do you think that we need?" May asked.

Diamond scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Well, we are going to need a lot, so that we can keep our Pokemon in tiptop shape at all times. So, to stock up, I'd say we need at least 150 for the long haul."

" _One hundred and fifty!_ " Ash exclaimed.

"Hey, calm down, calm down" Diamond said hurriedly. "They only cost 100 Poke each. Between the three of us, we should easily be able to pull 15,000 Poke together. You guys should be able to pay 5,000 Poke each, right?"

Ash grimaced. "I'll have to check. Unlike a lot of trainers, I don't put up Prize Money for battles. I battle for the thrill, so I don't earn much." He dug into his pockets and pulled out his wallet. "Wow, I still have most of my money from my placing in the Vertress Conference. I guess I've never really spend much on anything."

"And I have enough from all of the contests that I've entered to pay" May said.

"Okay, then we should be set" Diamond said, pulling out his Trainer's Card.

"Hey, what's that?" Ash asked.

"This is my Trainer's Card" Diamond said, confused. "What's wrong with it?"

"I've just never heard of a Trainer's Card" Ash replied.

"Well, it all depends on how you start out. Some trainers carry their money with them and keep their I.D. in their Pokedex. Other trainers get a Trainer Card like this to serve as their identification, as well as acting as a credit card of sorts" Diamond explained the difference between the two.

"Oh, I never knew that" Ash said.

"Hey, are you three going to make an order?" the clerk behind the counter asked impatiently.

"Oh, yes" Diamond said. "Can we please have 150 Lava Cookies?"

"...One hundred, and fifty!?" the clerk asked, shocked.

"Yeah, we're stocking up for a long journey" Diamond explained.

"Oh, um, yes, one moment please" the clerk said, before turning around and yelling into the back of the market. "I NEED A MACHOKE OUT HERE!"

"Why do you need a…" Ash trailed off as he realized just how much 150 Lava Cookies weighed and measured. "...Oh, that's why."

* * *

 _Over in local products_

* * *

"Come on, Dragonite. You need to carry the bags from the bottom, otherwise the bottles will fall out of the bottom" Iris told her Dragonite.

"Haaaaaargh" Dragonite growled.

"I know how strong you are, but the bags are only so strong" Iris told the rebellious Dragon-Type.

"Rrrrrrrgh" Dragonite growled again, but holding the bags in the way Iris wanted him too.

"Heehee, that Dragonite really has it's own way of doing things, doesn't it?" Misty giggled at the Pokemon's behaviour. Behind Misty, Politoed sprung along happily, holding a few bags, while Corsola balanced a few on it's back.

"How do you get your Pokemon to listen so well?" Iris asked. "I still have to bend Dragonite's arm to do anything for me."

"Well, I don't know. I've just really always connected with Water-Type Pokemon" Misty said. "The only Pokemon that I've ever owned that weren't Water-Type were the ones that I hatched from Eggs."

"I wish I had that sort of natural bonding with Dragon-Types" Iris complained. "Most of them are too powerful for their own good, so it makes them just a little hard headed."

"Yeah, most Pokemon are more inclined to listen to a trainer if they were captured earlier on" Misty said. "The only Pokemon that I've ever had troubles with was my Psyduck, who is just a little bit brain dead" she laughed.

Iris adjusted her grip on her bags of Moomoo Milk. "You think we bought enough? We are going to be part of a very big group."

"We as good as emptied all of our funds into these, they better be enough" Misty said. "And anyone who has any complaints, I'll be happy to introduce them to my mallet!"

Iris chuckled nervously. "Wow, Ash was right, no one sane wants to make you angry."

Misty flashed a grin. "Yup, otherwise, they'll regret it."

Iris set her bags on the ground. "You know, I'm going to get a bit of help to carry these." She pulled out a Pokeball and tossed it into the air. "Excadrill, come on out!"

The Mole Pokemon appear in a flash of light. "Cadrill!" it cried out.

"Hey Excadrill, can you help us carry these bags?" Iris asked.

"Drill!" Excadrill nodded, scooping up some of the bags that Iris had set on the ground.

"Awesome, thanks Excadrill" Iris praised her Pokemon before picking up the remaining bags. "You know, I don't see why so many girls enjoy shopping. It's more draining than anything else."

"I agree with you there" Misty said.

"Well, at least it's almost over with" Iris said. "There's the Pokemon Center."

"That's a relief" Misty laughed. "I can't wait to get off of my feet."

* * *

 _Pokemon Center_

* * *

After a long day of gathering supplies, the team regrouped at the Pokemon Center to rest and take stock. The last to arrive back at the Center were White and Dawn, having had the most tedious job of choosing spare clothes for a multitude of situations.

Brendan slung a large bag over his shoulder. "Well, I'm not sure if it's enough, but I got all of the Revival Herbs that I could afford."

Ash, May, Diamond, as well as their Pignite, Blaziken, and Bastiodon had shouldered the burden of the immense amount of Lava Cookies that had been purchased. "Well, I'm pretty sure that we have enough of these. Who would've thought that something so small could weigh so much?" Ash asked.

"To be fair, we did by over a hundred of these" Diamond chuckled. "Almost anything can be heavy when you multiply its weight by 100."

"Yeah, fair enough" Ash said, rubbing the back of his head.

Misty and Iris, along with their Pokemon, came struggling through the door as well, cradling massive amounts of Moomoo Milk. "A little help here?" Iris asked.

Everyone rushed over and took a bag from the struggling girls, bringing them into the room. The Pokemon came following right behind them and set down the bags, anxious to set down their load.

"Thank you guys so much" Iris said. "Dragonite, Excadrill, return!" she announced as the two Pokemon disappeared in a flash of light, back into their Pokeballs.

Soon after the two settled and sat down, Dawn came skipping through the door, holding several bags filled to the brim with clothing. Following close behind her, was a mountain of moving bags.

"Where's White?" Diamond asked slyly as everyone else roared with laughter.

There was a rock slide of bags (bag slide?) as a very tired White's face was revealed to the group, red from the strain. "Ha ha, very funny" White said sarcastically. "You wouldn't be laughing if you were in my position."

"Why didn't you have your Pokemon help you out?" Ash asked, chuckling.

"Yeah, that's what we did" May chimed in.

"I did, but a Golurk can't exactly fit through the door of the Pokemon Center" White said. "I'm sure as heck not using Zekrom to carry my bags, Chandelure would just burn the handles, Serperior and Samurott have no arms, and my last Pokemon, well, let's just say that he falls into the same category of both Zekrom and Serperior."

"What?" Diamond asked. "Does that mean that you have more Legendary Pokemon than just Zekrom?"

White chuckled lightly. "I have my secrets, do you really expect me to believe that you only have Giratina?"

"Fair enough" Diamond replied.

At that moment, Red and Gold stumbled through the door, carrying multiple backpacks filled with ropes, water bottles, and other survival supplies.

"We get everyone some new packs" Red announced. "These new backpacks are light, strong, and spacious, so we should be able to bring a lot more with us. They were also built so that they can support more weight easier."

When Ash was handed his backpack, he noticed that it was actually rather like the backpack he had worn through Kalos, except larger. As he looked inside, he realized that it was already packed quite full with supplies, yet when he slung it on to his back, he didn't feel much more weight than he had with his backpack a third the size.

"Oh, and I saw Cilan and Brock downstairs, helping out in the kitchen as a thanks to the Pokemon Center" Gold noted.

"Oh, I was wondering why they hadn't come back up here" Ash said. "Brock and Cilan love to cook and are really helpful, so I guess that it makes sense."

Red nodded. "Yeah, it'll be good to have them on the road with us. I can cook, but" he gestured to the large amount of people in the room, "not on this scale" he chuckled.

"Tell me about it" Ash said sheepishly. "I'm not sure that I would have survived my journeys without them."

"Aw, your cooking always turn out inedible too?" Brendan laughed. "Don't worry, you're not alone."

"Not entirely inedible, but, well, a little past crispy" Ash chuckled, embarrassed.

"Wait, so let me get this straight" Red said, with the obvious face of trying not to bust up. "When you cook, your food," again, he had to suppress laughter, "it turns, to ash?" he finally finished cracking up.

Everyone followed Red, busting up, leaving Ash sitting in the middle of the room, his face as red as a beet while he endured everyone's laughter. "That's not funny" he tried to say, but no one heard him.

"Hey, chill out" Brendan laughed, barely able to breathe, giving Ash a light punch on the shoulder. "I probably cook worse than you, my name just doesn't have any sort of pun that can be made with it."

Everyone began to calm down, mostly due to feeling light headed from lack of oxygen, as they all were gasping for breath and holding their sides as if they were in stitches. Red was the first to be able to speak again after Brendan. "Sorry about that, Ash, it was just too easy" he apologized.

"Well, it's not the first time that my name's been used in the place of actual ash" Ash muttered quietly. Misty looked at him, and he knew that she knew what he meant when he said that.

"What was that?" Gold asked.

"Oh, nothing" Ash covered up, waving his hands. "Hey, we need to get an early start tomorrow, don't we? Let's go grab some dinner so that we can go to bed."

"Sounds good to me" Red nodded. "Let's get some grub."

Pikachu came running over and hopped onto Ash's shoulder, cooing as he rubbed his cheeks against Ash. Ash took out a Luxury Ball from his pocket.

"Meloetta, why don't you join us?" he said, opening the Pokeball. In a flash of red glittery light, Meloetta appeared floating next to Ash.

"Mel, Meloetta" Meloetta said happily, greeting Ash.

"Pi, Pikachu Pi?" Pikachu asked Ash.

Ash sighed. "No, Pikachu, you cannot have just ketchup for dinner" he said.

"Piiiiii…" Pikachu said sadly, his ears drooping down to the sides of his head, putting on a heart-melting expression.

"Oh, okay, maybe a few packets" Ash caved in, immediately causing Pikachu to perk up.

"Pika!" Pikachu squealed, jumping on top of Ash's head.

"Melelelele" Meloetta giggled at Pikachu.

"Hey Ash, you coming?" he heard Dawn call from up the hall.

"Yeah, I'm coming" he called back. "Let's go, Meloetta" he told the Mythical Pokemon floating next to his head as he started down the hall.

"Meloet" Meloetta said, flying after the raven haired boy.

* * *

 _Early Next Morning_

* * *

Ash opened his eyes to an early morning light pouring into his room. From a look outside the window, he noticed that he had woken up just before the sun had risen.

Once again, he had woken up while everyone was still sleeping. However, this time he didn't have the sense of danger that he had felt the night before, when he felt the Pokemon Leagues being attacked. No, this time, he just felt, anxious.

"Am I really cut out for this?" Ash asked himself. "Red, Brendan, and everybody are all much more accomplished than me. They've beaten the Indigo League, the Silver Conference, and the other League Challenges, while I've only ever came close."

Ash began to doubt himself, and him being able to keep up on their journey. The worst thought that occurred to him, filling his insides with ice, was what if one of his friends got hurt, or even…

He couldn't bear to think that. If one of his closest friends was injured, or worse, because they wouldn't let him go on this adventure without them, he wasn't sure that he could live with himself.

He thought to what he had said last night. " _Well, it's not the first time that my name's been used in the place of actual ash"_ he had said. He and Misty were the only ones who knew what exactly he was talking about.

 _Disturb not the harmony of fire, ice or lightning, lest these titans wreak destruction upon the world in which they clash._

 _Though the water's great guardian shall arise to quell the fighting, alone its song will fail, and thus the earth shall turn to ash._

 _O Chosen One, into thine hands bring together all three. Their treasures combined tame the Beast of the Sea._

Professor Oak was the only reason that this bit of information wasn't known widely. He had convinced the newscasters to not air that report, at least not the bit concerning Ash, in respect of his privacy. If the world had known that he had been "The Chosen One," then he would never have had a moment to himself.

He may have only been a Chosen One for the Shamouti Prophecy, but ever since then, he felt that he had a duty to protect the world from Legendary Pokemon based disasters. Yet, he didn't have to try hard, because more often than not, they found him. He happened to be in Alamos Town when it was sent under siege from Dialga and Palkia's battle, Jirachi had happened to awaken the year he went to the festival, and the Prison Bottle happened to be brought back within an hour after meeting Hoopa.

Ash let out a light sigh as to not wake up any of the others. He knew that he had to do this, and there was no way to make his friends stop from following him. He would have to protect them with his life to make sure that nothing happened to them.

Then the hardest hitting thought hit him yet. He hadn't told his Mom that he was going on this adventure yet. He hadn't even called her to let her know that he was okay yet.

He broke out into a cold sweat. "She's going to rip my ear off" he muttered, standing up slowly and tiptoeing out of the room into the hall.

When Ash arrived in the lobby, it was near empty. The clock on the wall read 4:22 a.m., and there were only two trainers in the lobby, and Nurse Joy behind the main desk.

Ash walked over into the corner with the video phones, and sat down in front of the one on the far right, sweating bullets. He inputted his mother's number into the screen and waited.

* * *

 _Pallet Town_

* * *

Delia was up, and she had been all night, sitting out in the living room. She couldn't sleep, no matter how long she had been staying up, her worry kept her awake. Professor Oak had checked up on her multiple times, but he could hardly get her to eat or drink anything.

"What happened to my boy?" Delia whispered.

Her melancholy was interrupted by a high pitched beeping through the air. Her head shot up and looked around for the source, her eyes settling on the video phone set up next to the television.

Delia walked over and checked it. The call was long distance, all the way in Unova, listed as the Driftveil Pokemon Center.

Delia was about to end the call, so she could go back to her darkness, but then something clicked. The Pokemon World Tournament had been just outside of Driftveil City, in Unova.

Faster than a Jolteon using Agility, Delia snatched up the phone and hit the "accept call" button.

* * *

 _Driftveil Pokemon Center_

* * *

A light flashed on the screen, and the image of Delia Ketchum and her house in Pallet Town appeared.

"ASH!" his mom cried out in joy, and began crying.

"Oh Mom, please don't cry" Ash said, attempting to settle his mother.

Delia sniffed. "My baby boy, I was so worried about you" she said. "I wasn't even sure if you were still alive, I was scared for your safety."

"I'm perfectly fine, Mom" Ash assured. "And I'm sorry that I didn't call you sooner, I've been, busy" he said somewhat evasively.

Delia, being a mother, noticed this. Her demeanor changed slightly, while still being upset, was now also slightly suspicious. "What kind of things have you been doing?" she asked sweetly.

"Well, Mom, that's kind of what I'm calling about" Ash began nervously. "Do you remember that trainer from Pallet Town that had taken down Team Rocket at one point, or the Trainer on the news from Hoenn that saved the region from Kyogre and Groudon fighting?"

"Yes…" Delia said, waiting to see the point.

"Well, them, and a bunch of other people that are similar to them, all who were at the Pokemon World Tournament that night, have decided to go on a journey to hunt those guys that attacked the stadium down. And I," Ash took a deep breath, preparing himself, "amgoingwiththem" he said quickly.

Delia's eyes grew wide. "No, absolutely not, young man. I forbid this!" she said.

"Mom, you know I love you and that I always try to listen to you," Ash said, "but I have to do this."

"Young man, do you remember what I said the last time I saw you right after you saved the world?" Delia said.

" _Next time, if you have to save the world, can you do it just a little closer to home,_ yeah, I know Mom" Ash said. "This may be closer to home sometimes" he reasoned. "We'll be all over the place."

"Listen, Ash, I know that you feel a need to help people, but this is more dangerous that avoiding three wild Legendary Pokemon more focussed on attacking each other that you" Delia said. "These are malicious organizations that control Legendary Pokemon more powerful than Articuno and the others were."

Ash sighed, building up the courage to do what he was about to do. He knew that he wouldn't be able to convince her to let him do this, so he only saw one route of escape. "I'm sorry, Mom," he began, "but I have do this!" he said quickly, hanging up, then dashing away.

"Great" he thought. "Now, if nothing happens to me during this adventure, then I have my doom sealed as soon as I get home from it."

* * *

 _Later_

* * *

"One last time, are you sure that you're not sick today, Ash?" Red asked. "You look way too pale to travel."

"No, seriously, I'm fine" Ash said, still shaken up by his own nerve of what he had down earlier. "Let's just get on the road here."

"Alright" Red said. The entire group of travelers had gathered down in the lobby of the Pokemon Center, all packed and ready to go.

"So, you guys good with flying at high speeds?" Brendan asked the group. "Because this, right here, was going to be out planned means of transport" he said, holding up a Pokeball with the mark of Delta on it. "Rayquaza here is large enough to carry all of us, and almost as fast as my Latios" he said.

"Yeah, let's get on the road!" May cheered, throwing her fist into the air.

"Right" Brendan said, opening the door to the Pokemon Center and stepping outside.

However, less than ten steps outside, they were surrounded.

A hoard of people, flashing lights and video cameras surrounded the travel group, preventing them from going anywhere.

There was so much noise that they could barely think, or hear one another. However, what they did here was Red saying "Brace yourselves!"

The next second, all Ash could see was purple shadows, and chills ran up his spine as he felt himself moving at high speed.

Next thing he knew, they were on the top of the hill overlooking Driftveil City, feeling kind of woozy. Behind him he heard Red say "Gengar, return."

Ash turned around. "Gengar, huh?" he asked.

Red nodded. "Yeah, sorry, but I've dealt with these darn reporters for so long that I've figured out, the best way to get away is with Gengar's Shadow Sneak. Sorry if it was disorienting."

"Ugh, I almost forgot" White said. "We already could barely go anywhere before without being stopped for something like this. Now that we were caught at the PWT…" he trailed off.

"Yeah, we're not going to be able to do anything in towns now" Diamond said. "Not like this anyways."

"What do you mean?" Brock asked Diamond.

"Well, I don't think I'm the only one in the group that's taken to disguising myself to avoid the crowds" Diamond said. "I have a few spare hats and cloaks that no one has ever recognized me in, and I'm telling you, it's much better than being swarmed."

Red, Gold, Brendan, and White all nodded, agreeing with Diamond. "Yeah, your not wrong" Gold said.

Red turned to Ash and clapped him on the back. "Yeah, and since you were caught at the PWT also, I'm starting to think that you'll need one too."

"Well, I'm not sure that I have anything that could even qualify as a disguise" Ash said. "Besides, I've never had much of a problem with people like that."

Red laughed. "Ash, you've been popular at League competitions, but it's a completely different situation when you've had earth shaking events filmed and put on T.V. Trust me, now that you've been filmed, you are going to need something."

May smiled mischievously. "I think that I know what your disguise could be, Ash" she said.

"What?" Ash asked, curiously.

"Oh, I'm not entirely sure what it is, Mr. Guardian of the Year" May said.

"Mr. Guard…" Ash began to say, before his entire face lit up like a Christmas Tree. "No way, no way May, that costume would attract more attention than it would keep away!"

May and Brock each laughed at Ash's reaction. "Come on, Ash, that's an exaggeration" Brock said with an air of enjoyment. "Besides, it's not a bad idea. And who knows, maybe, considering where we'd have to go to pick it up, there may be a certain Pokemon there that might want to help you. After all, you did almost sacrifice yourself for it."

"Come on, let me in on what you guys are talking about" Red said.

Ash had a silent argument with May and Brock, and lost. He sighed and turned to Red. "Red, have you ever heard of Rota?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's a beautiful, rustic town in northwest Kanto, with lots of great scenery around it, and an amazing landmark called the Tree of Beginning" Red said. "But tell me, what did your friend mean when she called you 'Mr. Guardian of the Year?'"

"Well, about that" Ash began, his face flushing. "I participated in this annual competition at Rota a couple years back, and you had to dress in a medieval costume, and the winner was crowned 'Guardian of the Year.' Well, I won, and the costume I had chosen," Ash paused, "was the costume of Sir Aaron."

Red simply stared for a moment. Then he busted out. "That was _you?_ " he laughed. "I was participating at that contest one year where the winner was wearing a costume of Sir Aaron. You don't even look like that person. Although, I do remember that the winner had a Pikachu."

"Yeah, that was me" Ash said sheepishly.

"Well, I left after the tournament finished. Rota just happened to be not too far from Mt. Silver, so after the final round, I headed back to my training. I was using some new Pokemon, so I didn't win" Red said.

"Well, anyways, the thing Brock was getting at, was while I was there, I ended up going on a little quest, and I met a Mew" Ash said.

"Wow, no kidding, a real Mew?" Brendan said, running up. "I've heard that one of the only Pokemon rarer than Mew is Arceus himself."

"Well, long story short, it got sick while I was there, and me and, a friend, saved it. I almost sacrificed myself to help, but my friend took me out of the way so that I survived" Ash explained. "Brock was thinking that maybe, if Mew remembers me, it might want to help us out."

"You know, that's not a bad idea" Brendan said. "Besides, if you can get some Legendary Pokemon to accompany you, then that should make it much harder for them to beat us. Well, I guess that we know what our first stop is then."

"Wait, you aren't serious about…" Ash said, stopping when Brendan nodded at him.

"Yup" he said, tossing Rayquaza's Pokeball into the air. In a flash, the massive Sky High Pokemon appeared.

"Rayquaza, you good and rested?" he asked his Pokemon.

" _ROOOOOUUUUUWWWWW_ " Rayquaza roared.

"I'll take that as a yes" Brendan laughed. "Okay Rayquaza, first stop, Kanto. We're going to Rota!"

* * *

 **And now, the story truly begins. The adventure is starting, and their first stop is to visit Mew and Cameron Palace. Anyways, sorry it took so long to update, but considering the fact that this story isn't getting hardly any reviews, it's been harder to find inspiration to write. So update frequency is going to be somewhat determined by review count. Anyways, that's it. Hope you guys enjoyed, and see you next chapter!**


	9. A Friend in Need

_Sky_

* * *

Above the cloud layer, Bird Pokemon through the sky had a surprise flying companion. Among the Pelipper and Altaria, the king of the skies, Rayquaza, darted through the air.

High above the ocean, Brendan's Rayquaza carried our heroes through the sky. Brendan sat in the front of Rayquaza's long, serpentine body, giving Rayquaza directions as they soared above the clouds.

"Looks like we're about 20 miles south of Hoenn by now" Brendan said, putting his Pokenav away. "We're making good time from Unova, only about 5 hours and we've already passed over Sinnoh and Hoenn."

"Good, tell me when we reach Kanto, or any ground for that matter" Dawn said, her eyes scrunched tight and gripping onto Rayquaza with everything that she had.

"I guess that you aren't a fan of flying, Dawn" Diamond laughed. "I never flew very much, but seriously, this isn't nearly as high as we could be."

"Yeah, I know that. I've climbed Mt. Coronet, which was higher than this, but at least my feet were planted on a solid surface" Dawn said.

Diamond laughed. "Come on, we'll be there soon, then we can land on the ground and give you a chance to get feeling back in your legs before we go on again."

"Actually, Diamond, we may need to stay on the ground a bit more than that" Brendan called back to his passengers. "Bad news, looks like the Plasma Frigate's been seen in the airspace in Kanto. Isn't that thing Ice-Powered?"

"Yeah, it is" White spoke up. "At least, it was before. It looked like they changed it up a bit this time, but it still looked like it was harnessing Kyurem's power."

"Which wouldn't be good if they decided to attack Rayquaza, a Pokemon, that while Legendary, has a typing that Ice-Types eat for lunch" Brendan concluded. "Besides, if they even notice that we're anywhere near the region, then they'll be sure to come after us. Not only do they view us as a threat, but they probably still want to get their hands on Rayquaza" he said, stroking the Legendary Dragon-Type's head.

"You know, that Omega kind of reminded me of someone" Ash said, thinking hard. "The way he talked seemed kind of familiar, they way he talked about taking Rayquaza."

"And was it just me, or did he particularly look at you while he addressed us down in the stadium?" Brendan asked. "You think that you may have met him in the past?"

"I don't know" Ash said. "He was in a cloak, so he didn't show his face or anything."

"Well, we know what to ask when we finally defeat them" Brendan smirked. "Oh, I just love the thought of knocking those pumped up crooks off their high horses." He paused for a moment, but then a look of despair crossed his face. "But once the press finds out that we took them down…" he trailed off.

"Is all the publicity really that hard to deal with?" Ash asked.

"Believe me, you don't know the half of it" Brendan groaned. "Every time I go to a new region, I have to ditch my old favorite outfits and get completely new ones just so I'm not swarmed to the point of not being able to leave a town short of blasting a path through the reporters with Hyper Beam."

"You haven't actually done that, have you?" Ash chuckled nervously.

"No, but I've gotten almost that desperate" Brendan laughed hollowly. "You don't know what it feels like to be cooped up in a random town by random people who want to strip you of all your privacy."

"Yeah, that sounds pretty intense" Ash agreed.

Brendan took a second to look at his Pokenav. "Well, we really need to get to Rota, the sooner the better, but we shouldn't chance going too far inland. I say that Rayquaza should take us about to Route 2 in Kanto, then we can take the path through Viridian Forest, travel on Route 3, go through Pewter City, then we'll have to do some major hiking, but we should make it across the mountains there to Rota within a few days without assistance."

"Um, do you think that we can skip past Viridian Forest?" Misty called up.

"Why?" Brendan asked, before Ash waved him down.

"Uh, Misty's got a little thing about Bug-Type Pokemon" Ash explained.

"Ah, I see how it it" Brendan said. "We really shouldn't risk taking Rayquaza that far inland though, and between all of us, I'm still not sure we have enough passenger carrying flying Pokemon to carry us across."

"Yeah, I have Charizard, but he's still resting from his fight with Kyurem" Ash said.

"It's natural for most Pokemon to need a long resting period after their first time Mega Evolving" Brendan commented. "Adding that to the fact that Charizard was fighting a Legendary Pokemon, not even counting that it was one of the major ones, probably knocked it out of commision for a little longer."

"Well, I guess we either have to risk flying over Viridian Forest with Rayquaza, or Misty will have to deal with it" Ash summarized.

"Yeah, we can't risk something on this level over a Bug-Type phobia. Besides, the variety of Bug-Types in Viridian Forest isn't that great from what I've heard, mostly just Caterpie and Weedle lines" Brendan said, the first part loud enough for Misty to hear.

"Seriously? You expect me walk underneath those slimy things?" Misty exclaimed angrily.

"Goldeen and Psyduck have more slime on them than Caterpie do, Misty" Ash responded.

"As soon as we land, you're going to regret saying that, Ash!" Misty yelled.

"Oh geez" Ash muttered. "I hope that Pikachu is ready to protect me from Misty."

"Pika!" a muffled yet indignant voice came from within Ash's pack.

"Seriously, you're still _that_ scared of her?" Ash complained.

Brendan chuckled. "You guys remind me of my old rival Sapphire back in Hoenn. Boy, she would let me have it if I did anything to offend her."

"Well, Misty was never really a rival of mine, but she can be a little, um, what's the word…" Ash stopped and thought.

"Intense?" Brendan asked.

"That's the one" Ash said.

"Did you ever have a rival?" Brendan asked.

"Oh, a lot of them" Ash laughed. "And they were all really strong. My first rival, when I travelled through Kanto and Johto was my friend from our childhood, Gary. Then, when I went to Sinnoh, I met a trainer named Paul, and he was really strong too, but he was really cold and treated his Pokemon poorly. He changed after I beat him in the Lily of the Valley Conference though. Then in Unova, this trainer named Trip became my rival, then after we battled in the Vertress Conference, I haven't seen him since. I've had some friends that I've shared friendly rivalries with, but they were my big ones."

"When you said Gary, your childhood friend, you didn't happen to mean Gary Oak, did you?" Brendan asked.

"Yeah, he's the one" Ash conceded.

Brendan laughed. "I remember hearing about him, he set some kind of badge collecting record in Kanto and had a gaggle of cheerleaders that followed him for every major battle that he had."

"Yeah, he became a little full of himself during his journey" Ash chuckled. "But since then, he's become a Professor like his grandpa, Professor Oak. Last I saw him, he was aiding Professor Rowan in Sinnoh."

"That's pretty neat that you had a big time rival like him" Brendan said. "I bet he helped push you to be who you are today."

"You bet, he was a big reason that I've gone as far as I have. I wanted nothing more than to beat him when I first started travelling, and since then, I've wanted to keep getting stronger, so that every time I meet someone like him, I'll be able to beat them" Ash said.

Rayquaza growled deeply, alerting everyone riding him. "What's wrong?" Brendan asked worriedly.

Rayquaza shook its head downwards, trying to get a message across. "Something down there?" he asked. Rayquaza nodded. "Alright, take us down so that we can see it" he said.

Rayquaza let out another growl and sank beneath the clouds, descending towards the ocean.

Red looked down at the water. "We're just above the Sevii Islands" he announced. "I've been here before, it's a small chain of islands outside Kanto, similar to the Orange Islands, but the Pokemon here are stronger than they are in most other areas."

"Yeah, but what did Rayquaza sense here that was so important?" Brendan asked.

Rayquaza answered by shaking its head towards a rather large, mountainous island. "That's Quest Island, the seventh major island in the Sevii Islands" Red announced. He then pointed towards a large canyon showing recent signs of damage. "And THAT isn't supposed to be there" he said, pointing at a large break in the canyon wall.

As Rayquaza flew down towards the destruction, Red briefed them about the area. "Quest Island is considered to be the most dangerous of the Sevii Islands, as the mountains arounds here are filled with powerful and territorial Tyranitar, Onix, and Golem. I'd say that this damage could've easily been caused by a rampaging Tyranitar, but Rayquaza feels something, so I'd say something is down there."

"Rayquaza, set us down here" Brendan commanded, settling near the top of the canyon near the hole. The Ozone Pokemon slowed down and settled to the ground, allowing everyone to clamber off. "You did amazing. Rayquaza, return!" he praised, recalling his Pokemon. "Ok, everyone, be ready, just in case."

Pikachu leapt onto Ash's shoulder, cheeks crackling lightly, while everyone else reached and grabbed a Pokeball.

The group made their way steadily down the cliffside, working their way down to the wreckage, surveying the surroundings. After some careful climbing, the group descended onto a wooded beach. Similar to the cliff face, there was a large amount of the foliage plowed away, as if something had crashed through it.

"Yeah, something big came through here" Red conceded.

"And it doesn't take the senses of a Legendary Pokemon to notice that" Diamond commented.

"Let's get in there" Brendan said, pulling out a Pokeball. "Okay, here goes. Swampert, I choose you!"

The Pokeball opened to reveal a large blue quadruped Pokemon. " _Swaaaaaaaaaammmmmppp_ " it cried.

"Swampert, can you help clear the trees here?" Brendan asked.

"Swampert Swamp!" Swampert replied.

"Excellent, let's go" he said.

Swampert walked forward on its hind legs and began to shift the massive trunks out of the way, clearing a path for the group to walk through.

White peered into the brush. "I don't like this, I feel like something is wrong" he said worriedly.

Up in front, Swampert used Hydro Pump to blast away a particularly stubborn group of trunks blocking the path. "I do feel like we're being watched" Brendan commented.

"Do you think that it's a trap?" May asked.

"That is a possibility" Diamond affirmed. "But we can't risk someone being in need of help and just walk away from them."

Swampert used Hydro Pump to clear away some more trunks, then something happened that stunned the whole group.

Through the woodwork, a beam of swirling winds flew through and struck Swampert, sending it flying very painful through the trees. " _Swaaaaaaaaaaaaa_ " Swampert cried out.

Gold looked at Red. "That look like an Aeroblast!" he exclaimed.

Red nodded. "Which means that we either have a very angry Smeargle who has had quite the encounter, or…"

Gold pulled out a Pokeball with an emblem on it in the shape of a blue diamond. "Come on out, Suicune!" he yelled.

With a flash of light, the Legendary Dog Pokemon, Suicune appeared in the clearing. " _Ruuuuuuuuuuuu!_ " it rumbled.

"Alright, we know that you're in there, Lugia" Gold shouted. "We don't want to fight, but one of my Pokemon felt something wrong. We came to help!"

Within the brush, a roar came out, and a blue light began to shine through.

"Suicune, Aurora Beam!" Gold commanded.

Suicune lept into the air and fired off a cold beam of multicolored energy to intercept the Aeroblast. The beams collided and cancelled each other out, filling the air with smoke.

They heard another roar, but that roar devolved into a moan. A moan of heart-breaking pain shot through the air.

Gold hopped on top of Suicune and looked into the woods. "Alright, Lugia. I'm coming to help, not to hurt you" Gold announced. When there was no response, Gold lightly urged Suicune to walk into the brush. He was soon followed by the rest of the group.

"Oh!" Iris gasped.

Lying in the trench it plowed, a very battered Lugia lay before the group. It's body was covered in purplish spots, and its left wing looked like it had been broken.

Lugia looked at the group and let out a rumbling growl again. It opened its mouth and began to charge a large ball of pink energy, aiming straight at them.

Brendan was shocked. "There's no way, it's impossible for a Lugia to use…"

Suddenly, a weak voice rang through the clearing. "Lugia, stop."

Lugia closed its mouth, dispersing the energy it had been gathering and looking back behind itself.

A young boy, wearing a yellow jacket and blue pants, stood up, looking over Lugia. The boy had spiky red hair and turquoise eyes.

He looked hard at the group, then spoke up again. "Weren't you guys the people who I helped battle the guys who attacked the Driftveil PWT Stadium?" he asked.

Red nodded for them. "And by the looks of it, you're the one who battled that dark looking Lugia with your own Lugia. What happened?"

The young trainer coughed and then addressed the group again. "Well, I used some strong medicine to heal my pal here right up" he said, patting the Lugia on the head. "Afterwards, I immediately went to chase after those crooks, riding Lugia. I found them around here, and had Lugia attack their ship. But before I could knock them out of the sky, XD002 came out and attacked us. Lugia put up a good fight, but the Shadow Moves eventually took their toll, and they sent us crashing down into the island."

"XD002, Shadow Moves, what are all of those?" Ash asked.

The trainer looked at him. "Back in my home region, the evil team there once sought to make the strongest Pokemon to take over the world with, and they created what we called Shadow Pokemon, Pokemon with the doors to their hearts closed, and filled with nothing but darkness and negativity. Shadow Pokemon learned special Shadow Moves, moves of a unique type, that were extremely effective against any Pokemon that wasn't a Shadow Pokemon. As for XD002, that's the code name for their Shadow Lugia."

"So wait, you're saying that they took a Legendary Pokemon, and made it into one of these Shadow Pokemon to fight for them?" Red asked.

"Yeah, and if they went the same route as last time, they made sure that XD002 is all but impossible to purify also" the trainer said. "Even if it could be, my Snag Machine is all the way back home in Orre, and I'm fresh out of Master Balls."

"What is this talk about purifying and Snag Machines, and why do they call it XD002 instead of XD001? They don't have another Pokemon stronger than it, do they?" Diamond asked.

"Well, I don't know if they do have anything stronger, but I wouldn't figure" he said. "From what I've seen of their research when I raided their base, only young Legendary Pokemon can be infected into Shadow Pokemon, so their super ancient Pokemon like that Goudon wouldn't be able to become Shadow Pokemon, they're too powerful to be corrupted in that way. But the reason they're calling it XD002 is because this," he said, stroking his Lugia's neck, "was XD001."

"Wait, excuse me, but what the heck do you mean?!" Red exclaimed, causing Lugia to growl again.

"This was the original Shadow Lugia that Team Cipher created, and the only Pokemon they made to be unable to be purified. That's why Lugia is so on edge. Because they had to catch it young, it's in what we would call its teenage years right now. They said that Lugia was their best work, because it was impossible to change back. But we found a way" he said, rubbing Lugia to calm it down. "Oh, and I don't believe that I've properly introduced myself. My name's Michael."

"Nice to officially meet you, Michael, but there's one thing I'm curious about, if you'll indulge me" Brendan said. "A bit ago, I saw your Lugia about to use an attack that should be impossible for it to use. How did it learn Psycho Boost?"

"Psycho Boost?" Ash asked.

"A concentrated blast of Psychic energy, and the only Pokemon ever known to be able to use it is Deoxys" Brendan said.

"Yeah, this Lugia here is special. From the moment I purified it, it knew how to use some powerful moves, including Psycho Boost" Michael said. "It's been a big help whenever I've met some Cipher dregs."

"Well, do you know who that was that was commanding the Shadow Lugia?" Red asked.

"Yeah, one of the old admins. His name is Ardos, and he kept saying that he would build Team Cipher up, but I never figured that he would do it" Michael said. He winced and then sat on the ground. "Sorry, Lugia isn't the only one who got hurt when we crashed."

"Are you ok?" Dawn asked.

"Yeah, just a few scrapes and bruises. It's Lugia that I'm worried about, I think his wing broke when we crashed last night" Michael explained.

"Allow me" Brock said, stepping up and slinging his pack down. "I should have Lugia healing pretty quick here, but it may need to rest overnight to be completely ready again. Why don't we set up camp?"

"What, you mean here?" Michael asked.

"Yeah, what else did you expect, Fullmoon Island?" Brock laughed. "I'll need to be here to help Lugia tonight, and I know that the rest of us don't like to leave a pal alone in a dangerous area."

"No, seriously, you don't have to do that. I'm fine camping alone" Michael said. "Besides, my Pokemon are strong, they can protect me."

"Really, they're strong, can I see them?" Ash asked.

"Huh, oh, sure" Michael said, caught slightly off guard. He reached down to his belt and detached three Pokeballs. "These three are some of my most trusted partners" he assured, tossing them into the air.

With three bright flashes of light, the Pokemon Flareon, Ursaring, and Dragonite materialized on the island.

"Wow, quite a variety there" Red commented. "Each one is also a member of a powerful species. Dragonite, of course, being one of the Pseudo-Legendary Pokemon, Ursaring being known for their massive strength, and the intense Fire-Type attacks a Flareon can produce."

"Yeah, Flareon was my first Pokemon here" Michael said, rubbing Flareon underneath the chin. "Ursaring used to be a Shadow Pokemon, but he was the first one that I freed from Team Cipher. Similarly, Dragonite was the last known Shadow Pokemon that they created, and I caught him from an Ex-Cipher boss."

"So at least three of the Pokemon you've caught are previous Shadow Pokemon?" Gold asked.

Michael nodded. "Yeah, most of them are. Back in my home region, I was given a device called a Snag Machine, as well as a Shadow Visor. The Snag Machine allowed me to bypass the ownership system a Pokeball gave to a Pokemon, as long as the Shadow Visor picked up that the Pokemon was a Shadow Pokemon. It was my means of freeing the Shadow Pokemon from Team Cipher."

"So Shadow Pokemon were a pretty big deal in your region at one point, huh?" Diamond asked.

"Yeah, Team Cipher tried to take Orre over with Shadow Pokemon twice" Michael said. "The first time was before me, some guy named Wes and a girl named Rui already had taken them down once before me. I also heard of Shadow Pokemon appearing briefly in a far away region, but apparently someone there also took care of them."

Ash stepped forward. "Hey, do you think that I could battle your Pokemon that used to be Shadow Pokemon?"

"A battle, huh?" Michael asked. "How come?"

"Well, I always love a good battle" Ash said. "And I need to keep training if I want to get strong enough to keep up with these guys."

"Ok then, sure. 3 on 3 good with you?" Michael offered.

"Yeah, that's fine" Ash agreed.

"Jumping into random battles, still such a kid" Iris sighed.

"Hey, not necessarily" White said. "Battles are the best way to train your Pokemon and grow as a trainer and develop new strategies."

"Still, just to come out of the blue and ask for a battle with a random trainer" Iris countered.

White laughed. "I guess you've never taken any normal paths through a region. Most trainers challenge each other on sight on the road."

"Allow me to referee this battle" Cilan said, stepping up.

"Alright, thanks Cilan" Ash thanked.

"No problem, Ash" Cilan said. "You always perform greatly, and supply hot fights that are amazing to watch."

"Well, ready to go?" Michael said, standing up carefully.

"Yeah, let's do this" Ash cheered, running down to the beach.

…

Down on the beach, Ash and Michael stood facing each other.

"This will be a 3 on 3 battle between Ash and Michael" Cilan declared. "Each trainer is allowed the use of 3 Pokemon, and a winner will be decided when all three of a trainer's Pokemon are unable to battle. Now, send out your Pokemon!"

"Cilan, you sure take this seriously" Ash laughed, pulling a Pokeball from his belt. "Well, time to see how these guys battle" he said to himself. "Eevee, I choose you!"

The Pokeball sprung open, and the light that shot onto the ground materialized into the DNA Pokemon, Eevee. "Vui?" it asked, uncertain.

"Hey Eevee, ready for our first battle together?" Ash asked.

Eevee started for a second more, then nodded confidently. "Vee, Eevee Vui!"

"Ok" Ash smiled.

"I suppose that it's my turn" Michael said. "Delcatty, I choose you!"

With another flash, the Pokemon Delcatty appeared on the field across from Eevee. "Del!" it growled.

"Battle, begin!" Cilan declared.

"Alright, start out with Quick Attack, Eevee!" Ash said.

"Vui" Eevee said, pelting off at Delcatty, moving so fast that it was only visible by the trail of white light behind it.

"Delcatty, use Shock Wave to stop it" Michael countered.

Delcatty began to glow with static electricity, then it shot out a wave of lightning at the incoming Eevee.

"Eevee, jump to dodge!" Ash commanded confidently. Eevee leapt into the air, the momentum from Quick Attack allowing it to soar high. However, Ash was quite surprised when Shock Wave went up to catch Eevee.

"Veeeeeee!" Eevee squealed as electricity coursed through its body.

"How did it curve like that?" Ash asked.

"Sorry, Shock Wave is a move that's nearly impossible to dodge" Michael shrugged.

"Hmm" Ash thought hard. "Ok, Eevee, let's try Quick Attack, one more."

Eevee jumped back onto its feet. "Vui!" it cried, taking off at Delcatty once more.

"Delcatty, you know what to do" Michael said.

"Catty" Delcatty smirked, charging up another Shock Wave. As it watched Eevee grow near, it released it directly at Eevee.

"Now, use Double Team!" Ash said.

As Eevee sprinted at Delcatty, multiple Eevee began to appear on the field. Shock Wave passed through one Eevee, which disappeared on the spot, leaving several others there.

"What?" Michael yelped.

The Eevee copies disappeared, leaving only a single Eevee right in front of Delcatty. Eevee slammed into Delcatty, sending it flying backwards with the momentum that it had produced.

"Well, I've got to give you props for the last second Double Team" Michael said. "But Delcatty is far from down for the count."

As if to prove his point, Delcatty stood up and growled at Eevee.

"Ok, then. Eevee, use Swift!" Ash commanded.

Eevee leapt into the air, spinning around, creating stars around it. Eevee flipped and sent each one straight at Delcatty.

"Well, looks like I'm not the only one using accurate shots" Michael said. "Let's try this, use Wakeup Slap!"

"Del!" Delcatty cried, leaping up to meet the incoming stars, swiping its tail through the air, bashing through each one and causing them to explode into stardust.

"Now, follow it up with Faint Attack" Michael commanded.

Delcatty ran at Eevee, then disappeared into thin air.

"Eevee, be ready!" Ash warned, but no sooner had he said that, than Delcatty had reappeared and struck Eevee, sending it reeling.

Delcatty ran back over near Michael. "Great job, Delcatty. Let's wrap this up. Assist!"

"Assist?" Ash wondered, forgetting what it did.

"Yeah, Assist is a move that allows Delcatty to copy one of the moves of any Pokemon I have on me knows" Michael explained.

Delcatty glowed briefly, then reared it's head back and unleashed a stream for fire straight towards Eevee. "And it looks like it took Flareon's Flamethrower."

"Look out Eevee!" Ash cried, but Eevee just stood its ground, facing the oncoming stream of fire. A moment before the flames hit, Eevee smirked and began to glow.

The flames washed over Eevee, who disappeared in the inferno. "EEVEE!" Ash yelled.

The flames quickly vanished, and everyone watching the fight stared in shock. Standing where Eevee had been, a Flareon now stood, glowing with a red aura.

"How did it evolve so quickly?" Michael asked in dismay. "That should be impossible!"

"Well, apparently, the person who gave me this Eevee had it genetically modified to evolve and devolve through its forms at will" Ash explained. "And it looks like this Eevee is really smart, too" he added, smiling.

"Of course, because Flareon have the ability Flash Fire, which means it would absorb a Fire-Type move like Flamethrower to power up its own Fire-Type attacks" Michael realized.

"And with powered up Fire moves" Ash began. "Ok, Flareon, use Flame Charge!"

Flareon stamped its feet on the ground, erupting into flames, then sprinting towards Delcatty with a speed almost on par with its Quick Attack.

"Come on, think" Michael said, trying to find something to do. "Alright, let's play the luck game. Assist again!"

Delcatty closed its eyes and glowed briefly once more. When it opened its eyes, it lifted a paw up and its claws glowed white and extended. "Awesome, Ursaring's Slash!" Michael said.

Delcatty began running towards the incoming Flareon, claws are ready to combat with Flareon's Flame Charge. The two collided in an explosive crash, filling the air with smoke.

The smoke cleared to reveal the two Pokemon, facing their opposing trainers with their backs to each other. Flareon's embers dispersed and Delcatty's claws retracted. For a moment, neither Pokemon moved, then…

"Delllll…" Delcatty moaned as it collapsed to the ground, its eyes unfocused.

"Delcatty is unable to battle, Flareon is the winner!" Cilan declared.

"Great job, Delcatty, you deserve a long rest. Return" Michael, said, recalling his fallen Pokemon. He put the Pokeball back on his belt and pulled out another one. "Ok, next round. Let's go, Ursaring!"

Michael called out the massive bear Pokemon to his side of the field. "UUUUUUUURRRRRRSAAAAAA!" Ursaring roared.

"Whoa, what a roar!" May exclaimed on the sidelines.

"Let me tell you, we saw a lot of Ursaring while we were travelling through Johto, but that one is the biggest that I've ever seen!" Misty said.

"Well, let's go. You going to switch out Flareon?" Michael asked.

"Flareon, you want to take a break?" Ash asked.

Flareon looked at Ursaring for a moment, then began to glow. When the glow faded, instead of Flareon, there now stood a Jolteon.

Michael was wide eyed. "Wow, you weren't kidding when you said that the Eevee could change its form at will."

"Jolt!" Jolteon barked at Ursaring.

"I guess that Jolteon really wants to fight, should we keep him waiting?" Michael asked.

"No way, let's get to the next battle" Ash said.

"Alright. Ursaring, open up with Earthquake!" Michael ordered.

Ursaring stomped the ground, sending a large tremor through the ground, knocking Jolteon into the air.

"JOOOOOOOLLLLLLLTTTTTEEEEEEE!" Jolteon cried out in pain as it was knocked into the air by the super-effective move.

"Rrrr" Ash grunted. "Ok, time for a good move, Jolteon is still worn out from his previous fight, and Ursaring's brute force isn't going to let him stay up for long" he thought.

"Ok, let's try this. Jolteon, right yourself, then use Discharge and Pin Missile at the same time!" Ash commanded.

"Jolt" Jolteon grunted, rolling itself back into a right side up position before launching electricity and its quills towards Ursaring.

"Urrrrr" Ursaring growled as it was struck repeatedly by sharpened quills and bolts of electricity from Jolteon.

"Jolteon, when you land, use Charge Beam" Ash followed up.

Jolteon landed unsteadily, then opened his mouth and fired off a beam of jagged yellow energy.

"Ursaring, deflect with Slash" Michael commanded.

Ursaring reached its paw back and its claws extended. It swung its arm and batted the Charge Beam away, wincing slightly from the volts it experienced touching it.

"Ursaring, one more Earthquake to finish it!" Michael said.

Once more, Ursaring stomped the ground with all of its force, sending a tremor through the ground towards Jolteon.

"Look out, Jolteon. Use, use…" Ash couldn't figure out what to do.

Once again, the tricky little Pokemon knew exactly what to do. Around Jolteon's feet, a pulse of electricity went out. When the tremor reach Jolteon, it didn't even shake him.

"Of course, that was Magnet Rise" Michael said. "I thought that it was nearly impossible for a Jolteon to learn Magnet Rise though…"

"Wow, you are full of surprises, huh?" Ash asked Jolteon. Jolteon looked back at Ash and gave a confident smirk. He then spoke up. "I actually don't know what Magnet Rise does, but whatever it did, it seems to have cancelled out your Earthquake."

"Magnet Rise is a move that pretty much only Steel and Electric-Types can use. They use electromagnetism to levitate slightly, avoiding Ground based moves" Michael said. "If you look closely, Jolteon is actually about an inch above the ground right now."

"Alright, that's pretty neat" Ash commented. "Ok, Jolteon, use Quick Attack!"

Jolteon took off, soaring just barely over the ground towards Ursaring.

"Ursaring, use that move that we've been working on" Michael commanded with a small grin.

"Ursss" Ursaring growled, standing its ground as Jolteon charged towards it.

Jolteon picked up its speed as it neared his opponent, to the point where it had nearly vanished. It reappeared, as if jumping out of hyperspace, and struck Ursaring full power.

Ursaring grunted and flinched backwards. However, a brief second later, Ursaring glowed red and struck out at Jolteon, sending it flying through the air, squealing in pain. When Jolteon landed on the ground near Ash, it was out cold.

"Jolteon is unable to battle, the winner is Ursaring!" Cilan declared.

Jolteon glowed blue and shrunk, reverting to its preevolution of Eevee. "Eevee, you were great. Return" Ash said, recalling the fallen Pokemon.

"Great job, Ursaring" Michael praised. "You used that Counter perfectly.'

"Counter, that's the move that takes the damage you took and hits me with it double times" Ash said, it dawning on him.

"Yup, me and Ursaring have been working on that one for a while now" Michael revealed. "Counter is a great move in case of an attack we have no other means of stopping. After all, why try to block an attack when we are able to return whatever you deal to me twice over?"

Ash took another Pokeball from his belt. "Well, now it's time for my next Pokemon." Ash took a deep breath. "Ok, here's one of my new partners from Kalos. I choose you, Greninja!"

With a burst of water-like energy, the Ninja Pokemon appeared on the ground. "Niiiiiiiinn…" Greninja growled, staring down Ursaring.

"Wow, never seen Ash have that Pokemon before" May said.

"Well, he did say that he caught it in Kalos, and chances are he caught quite a few new Pokemon in Kalos considering that he only takes Pikachu between regions" Brock said, having just returned from fixing up Lugia.

"Ok, Greninja, ready to go?" Ash asked.

Greninja looked back at Ash with a sharp eye. "Gren!" Greninja said.

"Okay then. Greninja, use Water Shuriken!" Ash said.

Greninja sprang into the air almost immediately, reaching high into the sky. With the sun to his back, Greninja fired off a spinning blade of Water-like energy towards Ursaring.

"Ursaring, use Slash to counter!" Michael commanded.

Ursaring reached his arm back, claws extending. But before Ursaring was fully prepared, the Water Shuriken struck, knocking Ursaring stumbling back.

"Follow up with Aerial Ace!" Ash said.

Greninja streamlined his body and dived down towards Ursaring, preparing to attack once more. With a blinding speed, Greninja slammed into Ursaring before either it or his trainer could react.

"Geez, can that thing freaking Teleport?!" Michael exclaimed, noting Greninja's unbelievable speed.

"Man, I've heard tales of how powerful Greninja are, but this is my first time seeing one in action" Brendan commented. "That is one super Kalos native Pokemon."

"Well, then my only option is to knock its speed down a few pegs" Michael decided. "Ursaring, Rock Tomb!"

"Gregregregregre" Greninja sniggered when it heard the command.

"Yeah, I guess you remember what to do. Just like you did against Grant's Onix, right?" Ash laughed.

Ursaring's eyes became clouded with rage when it saw Greninja laugh it. "URRRRRSAAAAARING!" Ursaring roared, hurling a massive cracked boulder at Greninja, which split in midair into a hailstorm of stones.

"Go Greninja!" Ash cheered.

Greninja nodded. It leapt straight towards the incoming Rock Tomb attack. Greninja landed on a single boulder and shot off again, leaping from stone to stone, approaching Ursaring rapidly, leaving the Pokemon and the Trainer open mouthed.

Greninja soared off of the final boulder mere feet away from Ursaring. "Use Cut!" Ash prompted.

Greninja gripped his hand together, a blade of water forming in it. "GreninJA!" Greninja cried, swiping its Cut attack at the large Bear Pokemon.

Ursaring was struck hard, sending it flying into the turf, sending up a plume of sand. When it cleared, Ursaring was down for the count.

"Ursaring is unable to battle, Greninja is the winner!" Cilan declared.

"Dang, I couldn't even touch your Greninja" Michael complemented. "Well, I may be behind, but things are..." he said, reaching for his third Pokeball, but stopped as a beeping rang across the battlefield. "Hm?" Michael wondered, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a device. "Oh crap, I guess things are over!"

"What?" Ash asked.

"Sorry, but I've got to get back to Orre pronto, my home is under attack by Shadow Pokemon!" Michael said in an extremely hurried tone.

"Oh no, that's not good" Cilan said.

"Let us help you fight them off" Ash said.

"No, the Shadow Pokemon in Orre are my deal" Michael said. "Besides, you guys need to track down these guys' main forces." He sighed. "I hope that Lugia will keep healing in its Pokeball, because I need to transport it. I just wish I had him at full health, my Pokemon all of a disadvantage against Shadow Pokemon."

"Do you have a way to get to Orre from here?" Brendan asked. "I can have my Latios carry you over really fast, then have him come back."

"No, seriously, I've got this. My Dragonite knows Agility, and it moves incredibly fast" Michael assured. "Just make sure that you take down the rest of them. With them, Cipher should be near powerless again."

"Don't worry, that's our main goal" Red said.

"Ok" Michael said, plucking a Pokeball off his belt. "Dragonite, let's go, max speed transit" he said, summoning the Pseudo Legendary Dragon.

"Gooooouuuuuu!" Dragonite cried, leaning down to allow Michael to climb up.

Michael leapt onto Dragonite's back, then turned back to look at the group. "Good luck, you guys" he said, before urging Dragonite to take off into the air. Within moments, the orange dragon had disappeared into the clouds.

Red looked down and kicked the earth. "I can't believe how widespread those scum are corrupting the regions. Not only are they taking over entire cities and spreading fear throughout everyone, but now they are turning Pokemon into weapons of destruction. Oh, if we find their Plasma Frigate, I'm going to freaking have Mewtwo punch a hole in the hull, and watch them sink!"

Gold chuckled nervously. "Maybe it was a good thing that you didn't talk during our battle, because you say some pretty dark stuff."

Red took a deep breath. "Sorry about that, but after dealing with Team Rocket for so many years, I kind of have a short fuse when it comes down to swine like them."

"Well, I'm not sure that having your Mewtwo commit mass murder is the answer," Brendan said, "but our next goal should be to reach Kanto. Once Ash has partnered with Mew, maybe we'll stand a shot at taking them out."

"Come on, guys. We don't even know if Mew will show itself, much less join my team. Mew's life force is tied to too many Pokemon to count" Ash said.

"Yeah, but even Mew will understand how bad the situation is" Red countered. "With Legendary and Shadow Pokemon on their side, it's only a matter of time before they spread everywhere, including where Mew is hiding out."

"Fair enough" Ash smiled.

"Well, gang, what are we still doing here?" Brendan asked. "Let's leave now if we want to hit Kanto by nightfall."

"Right, let's go" Diamond said.

And in moments, Rayquaza was once more soaring through the afternoon sky, carrying his passengers towards the land of Kanto. "You know, I really don't like the sound of these Shadow Pokemon" Red said. "Pokemon that know moves that are super effective against any Pokemon? That doesn't sound like much of a picnic to fight."

"Well, since when are any of these missions a picnic to begin with?" Brendan laughed.

"True that, true that…" Red conceded. "Oh, and by the way, Ash, that was an amazing battle. That was your first time using Eevee, right?"

"Yeah, first time I took it out of the Pokeball since Giovanni gave it to me" Ash said.

"You battled really well for that being your first time with that Pokemon. Although, it did do a lot of the best moves on its own" Red said.

"Yeah, I've still got a lot to learn. It seems like you guys know what moves a Pokemon knows and what every single one does, and each Ability, and everything" Ash said.

Red laughed. "Come on, we don't nearly know everything. A lot of what I learned comes from experience, and studying data entries on my Pokedex. In time, you'll know at least as much as we know. Heck, your Eevee could teach you some strategies."

"Eevee seems to be a bit on the cocky side, though" Ash said.

"Well, it's smart, powerful, and has abilities most Pokemon can't even dream of. Each form gives it different immunities and abilities" Red said. "It could be ready for almost any situation. It could use bulking moves as an Umbreon, power up as an Espeon, then transfer all that power to its other forms. I do not want to see how powerful of a Hydro Pump it could use as a Vaporeon after powering up."

"You know, I still need to test out Drapion too. Maybe there's some sort of Battle Club in Viridian" Ash mused.

"Or you could always spar with us" Diamond said. "We're a team now, and teams help each other get stronger."

"Cool, I can't wait" Ash said.

Brendan whistled back. "Hey guys, Kanto ahoy!"

Ash craned his head to look around Rayquaza, and sure enough, on the horizon, stood his home region.

"I'm back" Ash said.

* * *

 **As always, read and review. Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up, I've been sick for a long time yet, so I've had trouble thinking clearly enough to write. But it's up now, so enjoy, and I'll see you all next time.**


	10. Notice

**Alright, so since so many of you still like the story, I'll keep it posted. It will be a long time before I get back to work on it though, sorry about that, but for the fans of it, I'll let it sit for now. I told you I was just taking notice, and since you want it to stay, I'll let it stay.  
**


End file.
